How does climate variability affect water quality dynamics in Canada's oil sands region?

Alexander, Alexa C.; Levenstein, Brianna; Sanderson, L. A.; Blukacz‐Richards, E. Agnes; Chambers, Patricia A.

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139062

Cited by 13 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 31 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…For example, a weak but nonzero relationship between precipitation and discharge (Supplementary Figure S1) suggests a small effect of discharge downstream of the Fort McMurray gauge is embedded in Pr. This contention is supported by additional research [35,83] and by additional data available for the region. On average, 90% of flow present in the Athabasca River at the Embarras Airport gauging station (DD001) which is downstream of all development [84] is already present in the channel when river water reaches the gauging station at Fort McMurray (Supplementary Figure S5).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…This low-relief area may accumulate high concentrations of CoCs which may be eventually delivered to the Athabasca River following or during protracted or intense rain events. While our analyses focused on the influence of summer precipitation, researchers have also identified pulses of CoCs and episodic acidity during high flow events associated with snowmelt in tributaries [35,77] and with particular phases of industrial activity, including construction [26]. We estimated the potential influence of atmospheric deposition on fish using summer precipitation and found a possible association in fish captured at some locations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, this value ranges from 33 to 129% (Supplementary Figure S5). Mines withdraw water and alter the hydrology of watersheds before, during, and after operation [26,30,34,35] which may affect the natural occurrence of CoCs [39,85] or alter the delivery of any industrially-derived substances to tributaries [11,35], but these activities occur downstream of the Fort McMurray gauging station. This information suggests potential influences of local development on local discharge (but not contributing to our estimate of D) may be occurring [26].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Materials originating from OSIA can be released to the atmosphere which may deposit to water bodies or the landscape, can be discharged via effluents, or, while rare, seep from tailings ponds [32][33][34]. Local industrial development can also affect the hydrology of watersheds exacerbating or otherwise altering exposure regimes [30,35]. Natural and non-OSIA sources are also present and include forest fires [36,37], urban activity [38], weathering and erosion of bitumen outcrops [33,39], accumulation of sediments in depositional areas [39], and discharge of groundwater naturally in contact with bitumen [21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Potential Influence of Sewage Phosphorus and Wet and Dry Deposition Detected in Fish Collected in the Athabasca River North of Fort McMurray

Arciszewski

McMaster

2021

Environments

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The health of fish is a primary indicator of ecosystem response in the Oil Sands Region of northeastern Alberta. However, industrial activity is accompanied by other stressors, such as the discharge of sewage, municipal activity, forest fires, and natural weathering and erosion of bitumen. To combat the spatial confounding influences, we examined white sucker (Catostomus commersonii) captured in the Athabasca River at sites over time (2011–2019) and included covariates to account for the possible sources of influence. The analyses suggest spatially heterogeneous influences of natural factors on fish, such as discharge and air temperature, but also the influence of sewage phosphorus and precipitation. Among the stressors examined here, precipitation may be the most complex and may include a mixture of sources including inputs from tributaries, urban activity, industrial development, and forest fires. Although suggestive, the attribution of variance and detection of changes are affected by sample sizes in some years; these analyses may have missed effects or misspecified important relationships, especially in males. Despite these limitations, the analyses suggest potential differences may be associated with precipitation and highlight the need to integrate robust information on known and suspected stressors in future monitoring of aquatic ecosystems in the oil sands region and beyond.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Potential Influence of Sewage Phosphorus and Wet and Dry Deposition Detected in Fish Collected in the Athabasca River North of Fort McMurray

Arciszewski

McMaster

2021

Environments

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For example, within OSM chemical measurements, such as water (Wasiuta et al, 2019) or air quality (Makar et al, 2018) may be instantaneous, near-continuous, or continuous, whereas physical measurements, such as flow may be summarized daily (Arciszewski et al, 2018), and measurements of biota may reflect annual, seasonal, weekly, or daily conditions (McMaster et al, 2018). Some relevant information, such as precipitation may also be interpolated (Alexander et al, 2020). Further, measurements of water quality may be done at more locations than where biological monitoring occurs (Glozier et al, 2018;McMaster et al, 2018) and may be automated and transmitted remotely (Fang et al, 2014).…”

Section: Challenges and Limitations Of A Priori Integrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges and Benefits of Approaches Used to Integrate Regional Monitoring Programs

Arciszewski

Roberts

Munkittrick

et al. 2021

Front. Environ. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although challenging to develop and operate, some degree of integrated monitoring is often necessary, especially at regional scales, to address the complex questions of environmental management and regulation. The concept of integration is well-understood, but its practice across programs and studies can be diverse suggesting a broader examination of the existing general approaches is needed. From the literature, we suggest integration of monitoring can occur across three study components: interpretation, analysis, and design. Design can be further subdivided into partial and full integration. Respectively combining information, data, and designs, we further define these types of integration and describe their general benefits and challenges, such as strength of inference. We further use the Oil Sands Monitoring program in northern Alberta as an example to clarify the practices common among integrated monitoring programs. The goal of the discussion paper is to familiarize readers with the diverse practices of integrated monitoring to further clarify the various configurations used to achieve the wider goals of a program.

show abstract

Tidal frequencies and quasiperiodic subsurface water level variations dominate redox dynamics in a salt marsh system

Grande

Arora

Visser

et al. 2022

Hydrological Processes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Salt marshes are hotspots of nutrient processing en route to sensitive coastal environments. Whilst our understanding of these systems has improved over the years, we still have limited knowledge of the spatiotemporal variability of critical biogeochemical drivers within salt marshes. Sea‐level rise will continue to force change on salt marsh functioning, highlighting the urgency of filling this knowledge gap. Our study was conducted in a central California estuary experiencing extensive marsh drowning and relative sea‐level rise, making it a model system for such an investigation. Here we instrumented three marsh positions subjected to different degrees of tidal inundation (6.7%, 8.9%, and 11.2% of the time for the upper, middle, and lower marsh positions, respectively), providing locations with varied biogeochemical characteristics and hydrological interactions at the site. We continuously monitored redox potential (Eh) at depths of 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5 m, subsurface water levels (WL), and temperature at 0.7 m depth at each marsh position. To understand how drivers of subsurface biogeochemical processes fluctuate across tidal cycles, we used wavelet analyses to explain the interactions between Eh and WL. We found that tidal forcing significantly affects key drivers of biogeochemical processes by imparting controls on Eh variability, likely driving subsurface hydro‐biogeochemistry of the salt marsh. Wavelet coherence showed that the Eh‐WL relationship is nonlinear, and their lead–lag relationship is variable. We found that precipitation events perturb Eh at depth over timescales of hours, even though WL shows relatively minimal change during events. This work highlights the importance of high frequency in situ measurements, such as Eh, to help explain factors that govern subsurface biogeochemistry and hydrological processes in salt marshes.

show abstract

How does climate variability affect water quality dynamics in Canada's oil sands region?

Cited by 13 publications

References 31 publications

Potential Influence of Sewage Phosphorus and Wet and Dry Deposition Detected in Fish Collected in the Athabasca River North of Fort McMurray

Potential Influence of Sewage Phosphorus and Wet and Dry Deposition Detected in Fish Collected in the Athabasca River North of Fort McMurray

Challenges and Benefits of Approaches Used to Integrate Regional Monitoring Programs

Tidal frequencies and quasiperiodic subsurface water level variations dominate redox dynamics in a salt marsh system

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About