Halifax, Nova Scotia

Canadians experience an enviable level of safety and security in their homes and communities and while travelling across the country. The Earth Sciences Sector (ESS) plays an important role in keeping our communities strong and safe. Experts in a wide range of natural hazards enhance our preparedness for potential emergencies by contributing to improving our infrastructure's resilience and testing our response systems. In addition, ESS helps provide critical aeronautical charts and publications to military and civil authorities and topographical information and maps in case of national emergencies. ESS is also responsible for maintaining the border demarcation between Canada and the United States.

Scientists and experts from ESS responded immediately in the aftermath of the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami that struck Southeast Asia on December 26, 2004. As part of the international response to the event and as Canada's premier earthquake research organization, ESS is sharing its scientific and technological expertise to help in the knowledge of, response to and reduction of impacts from these events at home and around the world.

Immediately following the disaster, ESS participated in international post-tsunami disaster meetings in Japan, India, and Thailand. A team of experts was sent to the Seychelles Islands in the western Indian Ocean at the request of the International Tsunami Society as part of an international scientific effort to document the tsunami and its effects. Canadian geoscience expertise is being provided for the design of global multi-hazard warning systems, better use of seismic, remote sensing, and other natural hazard monitoring networks, the improvement of building code standards and for training and development of expertise in earthquake and related hazards.

At the invitation of the Royal Thai Government, a team of Canadian specialists, including a scientist from the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing, spent two weeks assessing the environmental impact in three of the six affected provinces in Southern Thailand. The purpose of this mission was to assist the Chulabhorn Research Institute to determine the rehabilitation needs of tsunami affected coastal areas and to help match the identified needs with Canadian Government capabilities. The team's final report recommends ways that Canada can offer tsunami-related technical assistance, including Earth Observation data, for Thailand's post-tsunami sustainable development strategy. The Royal Thai Government will use this information to better prepare their country for the future.

The Natural Hazards and Emergency Response (NHER) program of ESS focuses on avoiding disasters by reducing the risks from the five hazards assigned to Natural Resources Canada under the Emergency Preparedness Act (earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, landslides, and magnetic storms). The program also contributes to the Federal Nuclear Emergency Plan, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and emergency geospatial information requirements of the Emergency Preparedness Act. Emphasizing population centres and critical infrastructure at risk, NHER produces national hazard assessments and improves access to digital ESS hazard information. National monitoring and observatory networks underpin NRCan's response to earthquakes and geomagnetic hazards. More information ...

Post-Tsunami Response for Canadians

After the events of December 26, 2004, Canadians needed to know what had happened and if it could happen here. Since education is the key to informed decisions and risk reduction during natural disasters, ESS experts supplied extensive, round-the-clock information to the media and to the public via interviews and the ESS web site following the tsunami. The Geological Survey of Canada continues to operate a national earthquake-monitoring network and provides 24/7 earthquake and volcanic information. Canada also participates in the sharing of real-time information from seismometers and tidal gauges among Pacific Rim countries to provide a warning network for tsunamis generated by large earthquakes in the Pacific. More information...

Canadian Discovery May Shake up Earthquake Hazard Preparedness

Two ESS researchers have discovered an entirely new tectonic plate boundary phenomenon called episodic tremor and slip (ETS) that may help scientists better understand large earthquakes and their potential timing more accurately. By analyzing surface ground motions and deep seismic tremors, ESS researchers discovered that every 13 to 16 months, the lower reaches of the subducted Juan de Fuca Plate slip a few centimetres under southern Vancouver Island over a period of two weeks. Farther west and closer to the surface on the same inclined fault interface, the North American plate and the Juan de Fuca plate remain locked. The deep episodic slip puts extra pressure on the locked zone, increasing the likelihood that an ETS event could spark a damaging 9.0 magnitude earthquake. Mapping, monitoring, and modelling ETS will better prepare southwest British Columbia and northwest U.S. for large earthquakes. In fact, international researchers are now focusing on ETS, which is one of the primary scientific targets of the US $319 Million National Science Foundation EarthScope project.

Eastern Canada Storm-surge and Tsunami Warning System in Development

Tsunamis rarely occur in the Atlantic Ocean, but storm surges are a more common cause of coastal flooding. For example, a wind storm and sea surge along the east coast of Newfoundland in March 2005 caused millions of dollars of damage. As a result of the Sector's contributions to international efforts to improve tsunami warning systems after the devastation on December 26, 2004, ESS is partnering with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and potentially effected countries bordering the Atlantic Ocean to develop a storm surge and tsunami alert system.

Curbing Corrosion in Pipelines-Applied Geomagnetism Research

The Geomagnetic Hazards project of NHERP recently published a study on current flow and premature corrosion within pipelines and this research is already finding practical applications. The company that is designing the corrosion-protection system for the Mackenzie Valley pipeline has asked for an analysis of how telluric currents (natural electrical currents that flow in the ground) will likely affect the proposed pipeline. It wants to use this information to design its pipeline protection systems. In addition, a Canadian corrosion engineering company with projects all around the world included content from the ESS study in courses it gives to the National Association of Corrosion Engineers. A third application, developed in-house, will enable pipeline companies to monitor telluric currents along their pipelines.

Fast Delivery of Radiation Contamination Maps to Emergency Responders

Rapid access to geospatial information better equips emergency response teams to save lives and property when disasters strike. The ESS Nuclear Emergency Response team has developed a portable tool kit to map radiation contamination quickly using aircraft or road vehicles. The team and kit can be mobilized in just four hours to determine the type of contamination, locate and measure it, and relay that information immediately to command and ground crews. In addition, using modern delivery processes such as computer-based task tracking, the Natural Hazards Information System (NHIS) team of ESS can now deliver custom maps and remote sensing information for emergencies within six hours of a request. These systems were successfully demonstrated in a multi-agency emergency simulation in Suffield, Alberta in February 2005.

Monitoring the Impact of Geomagnetic Storms on Power Systems

Geomagnetic disturbances can have a serious effect on power systems as was demonstrated on March 13, 1989, when the province of Quebec was without power for over 9 hours. During these disturbances, geomagnetically induced currents can saturate power-system transformers, which act as electrical conductors. This saturation can damage the transformers, create voltage dips, and in extreme cases, cause power blackouts. ESS scientists have now developed a real-time Geomagnetically Induced Currents (GIC) Simulator that monitors the impact of the Earth's geomagnetic disturbances on power systems. Using real-time magnetic data from the Ottawa Geomagnetic Observatory, the Real-Time GIC Simulator continually updates a model of the GIC flow throughout a power-system network. This model provides engineers and system operators with graphs and tables that offer an up-to-date view of GIC magnitudes that can be used to regulate the network to compensate for the GIC flow.

Reducing the Impact of Landslides and Rock Falls on Infrastructure

ESS experts are addressing ways to reduce the significant damage that occurs to Canadian buildings and infrastructure due to landslides. A simple and practical procedure to predict the depth of rock fall penetration has been developed by ESS experts. The resulting Rockfall Damage Calculation gives the pipeline industry an easy-to-use guideline for minimum burial depths of pipes in mountainous terrain in order to mitigate rock fall impacts. In addition, the new Earthflow Damage Model gives an innovative interpretation of earth flow impact on bridge foundations. In many cases, this information reveals that conventional oversized foundations are no longer needed for large infrastructure projects, saving money without compromising safety.

Business, trade, and national defence all rely on aerial navigation. By producing accurate and relevant aeronautical charts and publications with NAV CANADA, the Aeronautical and Charting program of ESS contributes extensively to the safety and security of Canadians. A safe and secure airspace allows business to flow, tourism to flourish, and Canadians to prosper. More information ...

Canada Airport Manoeuvring Surfaces (CAMS) Improves Aviation Safety

The Aeronautical Charting program of ESS focused on the requirements of NAV CANADA and its end users in the development of a new web-based product that improves airport safety by lessening the likelihood of runway incursions. Derived from other aeronautical publications, Canada Airport Manoeuvring Surfaces (CAMS) displays diagrams of Canadian airport manoeuvring areas, and NAV CANADA makes these airport diagrams available to general aviation pilots free through its web site. Since many private pilots are familiar with existing paper versions of airport diagrams, the publication is also available in book format.

ESS specialists in the Aeronautical Charting program are working with aviation stakeholders to improve the quality of aeronautical charts and publications and to produce these outputs more efficiently. The program recommended improvements for the visual flight rules chart series and is helping NAV CANADA standardize the chart series for air traffic controllers. Numerous organizations benefit by sharing the information and insight generated by the Aeronautical Charting program. For instance, the RCMP monitors abandoned airfields in the north for emergency landings and for drug smugglers and the Ontario Ministry of Health plans safer flights for its helicopter ambulance fleet around Kenora.

The International Boundary Commission (IBC) maintains the Canada-U.S. boundary under the terms of a 1925 treaty that provides for the enforcement of customs, immigration, national security, and other laws. The boundary's demarcation also allows the federal government to exert Canada's sovereignty. Each year, the IBC program maintains not less than 150 km of boundary and submits a Joint Annual Report to Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs Canada (FAC) and the United States Secretary of State. More information ...

The International Boundary Commission Receives Significant New Funding

In October 2004, the Canadian Treasury Board approved funding of $1.6 million for each of the next five years, bringing the total budget of IBC to $2.4 million. This new funding will help the IBC's Canadian Section to maintain the Canada-U.S. border and to deal with a backlog of boundary-maintenance projects. After 2010, the budget will drop back to $2 million each year. Treasury Board increased the funding after an independent study concluded that IBC needed more money to deliver this essential service. The boundary between Canada and the U.S. extends 8,891 kilometres across North America's undefended border.

Field Crews Attend to Canada-U.S. Border

Boundary maintenance involves inspecting boundaries, restoring and maintaining monuments, resurveying, and clearing vegetation. In light of increased border-security, Canada concentrates its maintenance and clearing in the most populated areas along the Quebec-New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine boundaries and along the British Columbia-Washington boundary. The IBC conducted two field projects between May and September 2004. One project involved replacing 15 monuments and repairing 23 along a 75-km stretch of boundary between Quebec and Maine. In the other project, a field crew cleared the vista along a 28-km of boundary also between Quebec and Maine.