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Canada’s oil sands spew massive amounts of unmonitored polluting gases

Innovative aircraft-based technique records carbon emissions not tracked before from the industrial region.
  1. Nicola Jones
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An aerial photo of the Athabasca oil sands operations, with tar and dirt exposed.

Researchers flew an aeroplane over the oil sands in Alberta, Canada, to measure all of their carbon-based emissions. Credit: John Liggio, Andrea Darlington and Andrew Elford

Canada’s controversial oil-producing tar sands generate a substantial amount of unaccounted-for carbon-based emissions that can affect air quality, according to measurements taken by aircraft. The sands release more of these pollution-causing gases than megacities such as Los Angeles, California, and about the same as the rest of Canada’s human-generated sources combined — including emissions from motor traffic and all other industries.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00203-8

References

  1. He, M. et al. Science 383, 426–432 (2024).

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  2. Liggio, J. et al. Nature 534, 91–94 (2016).

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  3. Chan, E. et al. Environ. Sci. Technol. 54, 14899–14909 (2020).

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  4. Liggio, J. et al. Nature Commun. 10, 1863 (2019).

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