The data represents the relative expense of farm chemicals (herbicides, insecticides and fungicides) in the agricultural area of Alberta. It is an estimate of the degree to which crop production agriculture may contribute to surface or groundwater contamination.Agriculture production that makes greater use of herbicides, insecticides and pesticides in generally considered more intensive. Presenting the relative farm chemical expenses by SLC polygons reveals where the most intensive agricultural production in the province occurs. Chemical use is part of an equation to determine a measure of surface water quality risk. If an area is known to have certain risk factors that would affect not only surface, but groundwater quality as well, a higher chemical expense index ranking in that same area may be of concern. Where risks of surface or groundwater contamination exist, environmental farm planning can help to minimize them.

The Regional Air Quality Deterministic Prediction System FireWork (RAQDPS-FW) carries out physics and chemistry calculations, including emissions from active wildfires, to arrive at deterministic predictions of chemical species concentration of interest to air quality, such as fine particulate matter PM2.5 (2.5 micrometers in diameter or less). Geographical coverage is Canada and the United States. Data is available at a horizontal resolution of 10 km. While the system encompasses more than 80 vertical levels, data is available only for the surface level. The products are presented as historical, annual or monthly, averages which highlight long-term trends in cumulative effects on the environment.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Maritime Science Branch has collected grain size data from sediment and water column samples using bottle samples, sediment cores, and sediment grabs as part of numerous research projects not only in the Atlantic provinces, but also worldwide. The data collected by DFO focuses on the fine grained (<1mm) particles as these are both a source of food and means of contaminant transport. Grain size data are used to study the fate and distribution of complimentary chemistries like heavy metals, pesticides, hydrocarbons, aquaculture waste as well as a variety of physical processes such as the resuspension and transport of sediment.

The “Agricultural Land Practices Groups of the Canadian Prairies” dataset lays out the areas of the 13 Land Practices Groups of the agricultural portions of the Canadian Prairies. They are represented by vector polygons amalgamated (dissolved) from the Version 1.9 SLC polygons sharing common water resources, land use and farming practices as developed in the “Agricultural Land Practices Groups of the Canadian Prairies by SLC Polygon” of this series. The dataset is based upon selected attributes from the Soil Landscapes of Canada (SLC) and the 1996 Census of Agriculture.Typical attributes including: land in pasture, land in summerfallow, crop mixture, farm size and the level of chemical and fertilizer inputs.

The “Agricultural Major Land Practices Groups of the Canadian Prairies” dataset lays out the areas of the 5 Major Land Practices Groups of the agricultural portions of the Canadian Prairies. They are represented by vector polygons amalgamated (dissolved) from the Version 1.9 SLC polygons sharing common water resources, land use and farming practices as developed in the “Agricultural Land Practices Groups of the Canadian Prairies by SLC Polygon” of this series. The dataset is based upon selected attributes from the Soil Landscapes of Canada (SLC) and the 1996 Census of Agriculture.Typical attributes including: land in pasture, land in summerfallow, crop mixture, farm size and the level of chemical and fertilizer inputs.

The Regional Deterministic Air Quality Analysis (RDAQA) is an objective analysis of surface pollutants which combines numerical forecasts from the Regional Air Quality Deterministic Prediction System (RAQDPS) and hourly observational data from monitoring surface networks over North America in order to produce a better description of the air quality at every hour. Chemical constituents include 03, SO2, and NO2 gases, as well as fine particulate matter PM2.5 (2.5 micrometers in diameter or less) and coarse particulate matter PM10 (10 micrometers in diameter or less). Geographical coverage is Canada and the United States. Data is available only for the surface level, at a horizontal resolution of 10 km. The products are presented as historical, annual or monthly, averages which highlight long-term trends in cumulative effects on the environment.

Regional Deterministic Air Quality Analysis (RDAQA) is an objective analysis of surface pollutants that combines numerical forecasts from the Regional Air Quality Deterministic Prediction System (RAQDPS) with hourly observations from various monitoring networks in North America, including the Canadian measurement networks operated by the provinces, territories and certain cities, as well as the various American networks in the context of the AIRNow program administered by US/EPA (US Environmental Protection Agency). RDAQA analysis provides the best description of current air quality conditions, and is used to inform the public, meteorologists in the various Environment and Climate Change Canada forecasting offices, Health Canada and other users about the distribution of air pollutants near the ground, and the performance of forecasting models. Each hour, a preliminary product is available approximately one hour after the observation measurement time, while final and Firework products are available approximately two hours after the measurement time. The preliminary and final products contain analysis of the chemical constituents O3, SO2, NO, NO2, PM2.5 (fine particles with diameters of 2.5 micrometers or less) and PM10 (coarse particles with diameters of 10 micrometers or less), while the Firework product contains analysis of PM2.5 and PM10.

The study involved sampling during a winter subsistence fishery at Brock Lake in November 2003, and a physical, chemical and biological assessment of the lake in July 2004 and July 2005. Data including physical, chemical and biological variables were published as Roux, M.-J., Harwood, L. A., Illasiak, J., Babaluk, J.A., and de Graff, N. 2011. Fishery resources and habitats in a headwater lake of the Brock River, NT, 2003-2005. Can. Manuscr. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 2932: viii + 61 p.

The study involved sampling during a winter subsistence fishery at Brock Lake in November 2003, and a physical, chemical and biological assessment of the lake in July 2004 and July 2005. Data including physical, chemical and biological variables were published as Roux, M.-J., Harwood, L. A., Illasiak, J., Babaluk, J.A., and de Graff, N. 2011. Fishery resources and habitats in a headwater lake of the Brock River, NT, 2003-2005. Can. Manuscr. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 2932: viii + 61 p.

Accumulated Precipitation represents the amount of total precipitation in mm (solid and/or liquid) which has been recorded over a given period of time. Products are produced for the following timeframes: Agricultural Year, Growing Season, Winter Season, as well as rolling products for 7, 14, 30, 60, 90, 180, 270, 365, 730, 1095, 1460 and 1825 days.