Environment Committee on Nov. 5th, 2012

[The Chair, Conservative, Mark Warawa]

I call the meeting to order. This is the 51st meeting of the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development.

I want to welcome Ms. Dodds and Mr. Lin as we study ozone monitoring.

You have up to ten minutes, and then we'll open it up for questions. This portion of the meeting will go until 4:30.

Thank you.

[Dr. Karen Dodds, Assistant Deputy Minister, Science and Technology Branch, Department of the Environment]

Thank you very much.

I'd like to begin by thanking everyone for the opportunity to come back and provide an update on Environment Canada's ozone program. As I stated when I was here last December, Environment Canada remains fully committed to monitoring ozone. This time I have some opening remarks, but you should also have a deck. There are some visuals, some ozone maps that we thought you might be interested in having with you as a more interesting reminder of what we will be talking about today.

Ozone in the upper atmosphere, known as stratospheric ozone, as you know plays a very important role in protecting the earth's surface, and humans, from harmful ultraviolet, or UV, radiation from the sun.

As you may be aware, Environment Canada's ozone program dates back more than 50 years, and has played a pivotal role in helping to understand ozone and the risks posed by thinning of the ozone layer. Canada's current ozone activities are the direct result of the significant contributions that Environment Canada has made over the years in ozone science.

In this statement, I will share with you examples of these contributions and provide you with an update on the status of our ozone program.

In 1982 Environment Canada scientists made an important contribution to ozone monitoring when they developed the Brewer ozone spectrophotometer, which is an instrument that measures the total thickness of the ozone layer. This device was developed at a time when concerns about ozone depletion were just emerging and improved data on the ozone layer was urgently needed. The Brewer ozone spectrophotometer is capable of taking automated measurements, which make it very useful, and of measuring both ozone and UV radiation. It's a significant technological advancement compared with earlier instruments.

The Brewer ozone spectrophotometer continues to be recognized today as the most accurate ground-based instrument for measuring ozone in the upper atmosphere, and it's used for monitoring of ozone by countries around the world.

In 1992, Environment Canada improved services for Canadians with the development of the UV index, a tool used to express the sunburn potential of UV radiation at the earth's surface.

Because of Environment Canada's work, Canada was the first country to provide forecasts of predicted daily UV levels. The UV index is now used worldwide and has been extremely influential in raising awareness of the potential risks for exposure to UV radiation.

Since Environment Canada's ozone program began more than 50 years ago, our scientific understanding of stratospheric ozone has significantly advanced. Scientific knowledge on ozone was essential in driving the formation of the Montreal protocol in 1987, and in the protocol's success in reducing ozone-depleting substances.

Both Environment Canada and the World Meteorological Organization have documented the positive trends in the recovery of the ozone layer. However, it's important to note that there continues to be variability and uncertainty in this recovery process.

For example, as you're aware, a 2011 paper co-authored by one of our scientists and published in the prestigious journal Nature reported a record loss in the ozone in the Arctic in spring 2011. Environment Canada's monitoring helps in identifying ozone losses, such as the one reported in that paper, and our long-term monitoring records help us understand these observations within the context of the overall trends in the ozone layer in the Arctic.

Our most recent observational data show that in this year, 2012, Arctic ozone levels were closer to normal pre-depletion levels, or pre-1980 levels, than they were in spring 2011, but the depletion of about 5% to 10% below normal was still observed. This kind of variability underscores the importance of ongoing monitoring of ozone.

Similarly, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, commonly known as NOAA, recently reported on the ozone layer in the Antarctic, noting that this year's seasonal ozone hole in the Antarctic, which occurs in September and October, is the second-smallest observed over the last 20 years. The smallest ozone hole was observed ten years ago, in 2002.

In my previous discussion with this committee, I provided information on the path forward for Environment Canada's ozone program. As a result of our continuing efforts to make optimal use of the public funds allocated to us, Environment Canada identified that operational efficiencies can be achieved in our ozone program, while still ensuring that we continue to meet our ongoing ozone-related obligations.

To achieve greater operational efficiency, we've stated our intent to integrate the operations of our two main ozone monitoring methods—as you will recall, these are the Brewer method and the ozone method—into a larger, integrated, and more sustainable monitoring network.

In the past, our ozone program focused heavily on the development of new monitoring technology in order to respond to the need for more advanced tools to understand the ozone layer. As a result, Environment Canada's monitoring efforts, using the Brewer method and the ozone-sonde method, evolved separately, leading to separate operations and maintenance systems that each required uniquely trained staff. This separation meant that our monitoring was vulnerable to fluctuations in the availability of staff capacity trained to maintain the operations for each method.

Today our focus is on better implementing and using these technologies to monitor ozone. Our focus is on the ozone rather than the technology. Our decision to integrate Brewer and ozone monitoring into an integrated network will help reduce operational vulnerabilities and ensure that our ozone monitoring is more robust and sustainable over the long term. This is a natural decision for us in light of the maturity of our technologies and the importance of ongoing ozone monitoring.

At my last appearance, I reported that Environment Canada was launching a review of our ozone monitoring in order to inform the integration of monitoring operations into a larger network. Our senior research scientists are in the process of evaluating all of our ozone monitoring sites and developing options and timelines for how to proceed with the integration of the operations, while still continuing delivery of the ozone monitoring for Canadians. It is estimated that this review and the design and implementation of the new integrated network will be completed and fully operational within a three-year period.

Throughout this process, we continue to monitor stratospheric ozone at ten Brewer sites and eight ozone sites across Canada. This includes our three long-term sites in Canada's far north, based at Alert, Eureka, and Resolute, which are of course important for comparison to baselines.

At my previous committee appearance, I also reported that we continue to be committed to operating the World Meteorological Organization's world ozone and UV data centre. This is an international scientific archive and database that provides a variety of ozone and UV radiation data sets to the global scientific community.

To better deliver on the commitment, the operational functions of the data centre have been transferred to my colleague in the Meteorological Service of Canada, still within Environment Canada, and managed by David Grimes.

I am pleased to report that the transfer of the data centre's operations is now almost complete. The centre continues to provide service to the ozone community worldwide. Within my shop, we continue to work closely with our colleague by providing scientific oversight. By migrating the operations to the meteorological service, global ozone data will be managed in a more modern data management system.

Environment Canada reported on the status of the data centre at recent meetings of the World Meteorological Organization's science advisory group for ozone. We reconfirmed Canada's commitment to hosting the data centre, as we have done since 1962.

Environment Canada also continues to fulfil its responsibilities to the WMO and the global scientific community with respect to the maintenance of the Brewer Triad.

The Brewer Triad is a trio of Brewer ozone spectrophotometers that serve as the reference for the calibration of other spectrophotometers throughout the world. Environment Canada is responsible for the data collected by the triad, ensuring that the instruments are operating correctly, and for periodically calibrating the triad with Environment Canada's two spectrophotometers situated at the NOAA facility in Mauna Loa, Hawaii.

A fourth Brewer spectrophotometer, known as the “travelling standard”, is provided by Environment Canada to calibrate other Brewer instruments throughout the world.

Before closing, I want to provide a little extra information on the full range of air quality monitoring that we do. In addition to monitoring stratospheric ozone, we monitor a wide range of air pollutants that impact air quality and human and ecosystem health, including surface-level ozone, or tropospheric ozone; nitrogen oxide; sulphur dioxide; carbon monoxide; a number of persistent organic pollutants; particulate matter; and metals and mercuries, among others.

We lead a national integrated air quality monitoring effort that includes the National Air Pollution Surveillance Network in partnerships with all of our provinces. This network was established in 1969 as a cooperative initiative with the provinces and territories to monitor the quality of ambient air. This monitoring network is comprised of 186 urban and rural sites in communities across Canada. Major ambient air pollutants are monitored continuously at these sites, and more than 300 chemical substances are analyzed in samples collected from the sites.

From this work we know that significant improvements have been made to Canada's air quality over the last 30 to 40 years. For example, emissions of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides have decreased by 63% and 17% respectively between 1985 and 2010. Concentrations of ambient particulate matter at urban sites across Canada have declined by approximately 35% between 1984 and 2009.

Our air quality monitoring is an important background in the development and future operations of the air quality management system, which was recently agreed to by ministers at the federal and provincial levels.

I'm extremely proud of the calibre of our air monitoring and the dedication of our scientists and staff in producing the data and knowledge necessary to support the delivery of environmental services and to inform policy and regulatory decisions that help Environment Canada help protect Canada's environment.

Thank you again for this opportunity to provide you with further information about Environment Canada's ozone program.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Mark Warawa]

Thank you very much.

We will begin our seven-minute round with Mr. Kenney—excuse me: with Mr. Lunney.

[James Lunney, Conservative, Nanaimo—Alberni, BC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Well, Mr. Kenney was honoured just last night in Toronto at a function. We would love to have him here with us, but.... They're both good Irish names.

Thank you very much to our witnesses, to Ms. Dodds, for being here with us today. Air quality is important to Canada. Ozone monitoring is something Canadians can and should be proud of—a 50-year history. I'm just looking over the testimony you laid out for us here. Over 50 years there are a couple of big firsts where Canada has led the way: the development of monitoring standards; the Brewer ozone spectrophotometer; and then, of course, ten years later, in 1992, coming up with the UV index. These are useful tools that are now used worldwide.

I appreciate the update you've given us today. It's a bit of a technical presentation, but I want to ask whether you might be able to review for us what the new science is telling us about ozone depletion, what the next challenges might be, and how Canada is utilizing new technology to monitor and protect the ozone as we move forward with some changes.

[Dr. Karen Dodds]

Thanks. I'll start, and then my colleague, Dr. Charles Lin, may add, since he's even closer to the science than I am.

If you consider the issue of ozone depleting substances, when action was taken under the Montreal protocol, there were predictions that it would take quite a long time to see the ozone layer regain its health and start stabilizing. That's what our monitoring, I would say, is starting to see. Even ten years ago scientists were predicting it would be the middle of this century, 2050, before we would really see those kinds of improvements.

We continue to be interested and have scientists look at the role ozone plays in the overall health of the atmosphere, because this is important to other issues, such as climate change. The interactions and impact of ozone, and the ozone level just in the atmosphere generally, are important to us.

Charles, did you want to add something more?

[Dr. Charles Lin, Director General, Atmospheric Science and Technology, Department of the Environment]

Yes. I can do that.

The interaction between climate change and ozone is a complex story. Many of the players, in addition to reacting chemically with ozone, are also greenhouse gases themselves. There are two parallel stories going on. An active area of research is just to try to tease that out: the role of ozone on climate change and the impact of climate change on stratospheric ozone. This involves observations, models, and many process studies that isolate a particular process of interest. That's a major challenge that lies ahead in the ozone-climate change story.

Another scientific advance is the use of satellites. Satellites can give us good spatial coverage. There is usually a trade-off between spatial coverage and time coverage when we talk about satellites. Also, satellites need calibration to make sure that what they are measuring is indeed ground truth. That's where the Brewers and ozone-sondes come in as well. The potential added coverage of satellites offers a new and exciting possibility in monitoring ozone.

The third and final aspect I will mention is the incorporation of ozone data into our weather prediction and air quality models. In technical language, we refer to this as “assimilation of data”. These observations have to be brought into, or assimilated into, the models to make sure the models don't run off, and to make sure the models behave properly and are properly constrained. This is a whole area of research. Right now, the Canadian weather and air quality models do not assimilate ozone data directly. One of the major moves we plan to make—one of the major scientific advances—is to actually assimilate or incorporate the ozone data into the model and to make them a happy duo.

[James Lunney, Conservative, Nanaimo—Alberni, BC]

Great.

There has been a lot of discussion in the media about our use of LiDAR systems. Could you explain to us how these work and tell us whether or not they are the best option for measuring ozone?

[Dr. Karen Dodds]

Again, the LiDAR is a technology, it is not what are you studying with the technology. Environment Canada has a number of LiDARs. We maintain that kind of capability.

Without getting too technical, the LiDAR can detect different kinds of particles and chemicals in the atmosphere. You can put it to different uses. Right now, we're most interested in two things using LiDARs. One is looking at the long-range transportation of air pollutants. We have one at Whistler that looks to see whether we are receiving air pollutants from others around the world. Another one or two we are looking to deploy—I'm not sure if they are there yet—to the oil sands to support us in the work we are doing in monitoring different contaminants in the atmosphere of interest with respect to oil sands development.

[James Lunney, Conservative, Nanaimo—Alberni, BC]

Thanks for that.

From the development of the Brewer spectrophotometer and the UV index to our continued operation of the WMO's world ozone and UV data centre, I gather that Canada has a reputation as a world leader in ozone monitoring.

Can you tell us about Canada's standing on these issues internationally? How do you believe we currently rank related to other countries of similar size and capability?

[Dr. Karen Dodds]

The use of the Brewer spectrophotometer is, if anything, continuing to increase in other countries around the world, with others recognizing the advantages that the Brewer instrument can offer. I think we still have an excellent reputation there. Our role in using the Brewer triad, in calibrating everybody else's Brewer instruments, is a very critical one.

On the science side and developing other technologies, we remain interested, but our focus is more on what's the issue—ozone—than on just technologies.

Charles, do you want to add anything?

[Dr. Charles Lin]

Yes.

One of the most famous observatories in the environmental field is Mauna Loa in Hawaii. There are two Brewers at Mauna Loa that are really Environment Canada Brewers. There's a sticker on them that says NOAA, but they are Environment Canada Brewers.

Their function, in addition to gathering data and looking at the ozone in that part of the world, is to help with this calibration method. To calibrate properly you need stable values, and Mauna Loa is a location that gives a fairly stable value, being high up and away from the lowest layer of the atmosphere. It's also away from the polar latitudes, where a lot of interaction takes place to generate ozone.

[The Chair, Conservative, Mark Warawa]

Thank you very much.

[James Lunney, Conservative, Nanaimo—Alberni, BC]

Do I have some more time, Mr. Chair?

[The Chair, Conservative, Mark Warawa]

No. Your time is up.

Ms. Leslie, you have seven minutes.

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Time flies when you're having fun.

Thanks very much for being here. It's good to have you both back.

Really we asked you back—well, the reason why I think we asked you back—is to look at your testimony in December last year and look at the changes since then. I welcome this opportunity to talk to you.

Last year, when the two of you were here at committee, Dr. Dodds, you said in your opening remarks that oversight of WOUDC would continue. In responding to a question from one of my colleagues, I think Mr. Sopuck, you said:

In discussions within Environment Canada, my colleagues in the meteorological service, who with weather monitoring, have a lot more demand on them for data management and information management technologies, have agreed that on the more IT/IM perspective, they will take over that part of the World Ozone and Ultraviolet Radiation Data Centre, the WOUDC. We will maintain the scientific input and the scientific oversight of the integrity of the data.

Dr. Lin, in response to a question from Laurin Lui, my colleague, you said:

We've decided to put the ozone data centre, the WOUDC, under the auspices of the MSC. But at the same time, the S and T branch under Karen will provide scientific oversight. So this is combining the best of both worlds, the one where we have scientific expertise and the other where MSC has the experience in maintaining operational networks.

I guess you would agree.... Obviously, those statements were on the record. But it seems that what you're really trying to communicate is that S and T has the necessary expertise that the meteorological services doesn't have, so they're well placed to work together.

Is that a good characterization?

[Dr. Karen Dodds]

Yes.

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Okay. Thanks.

I'd like to ask some questions about recent developments. Despite the assertions that scientific oversight would continue, this September we learned that Environment Canada had dissolved the program responsible for scientific oversight and that a data manager would be put in charge of the operation of WOUDC. We also heard that the Brewer spectrophotometers, which are an integral part of that research and used by scientists around the world, would be maintained by people without the scientific knowledge to be carrying out the task.

What I'm seeing in the scientific community is that they're pretty upset by this. They claim, and I think they have the on-the-ground information and experience to make these assertions, that it puts world ozone layer depletion data in jeopardy. They say that data managers won't be able to catch data errors because of lack of scientific knowledge.

S and T's claim that services aren't going to be jeopardized are countered by these folks in the scientific community on the ground.

I would like to know how you respond to these critiques that are coming from the very users of this data.

[Dr. Karen Dodds]

Thank you. I'm happy to do so.

In terms of the scientific oversight from science and technology branch, that continues, and we have research scientists whose expertise is in ozone and in the data related to ozone in the atmosphere.

An immense amount of data is collected by our different monitoring programs, and the World Ozone and UV Radiation Data Centre is exactly that, it's a data centre. So it's not just our scientists, but our scientists working with others.

When I say “scientists”, MSC has meteorological scientists, they have scientists in statistics and in treatment, and we have scientists in atmospheric science, in meteorological science. So you can use the words “science oversight”. But we are supplying scientific oversight in terms like...what's the best method for using for monitoring, standardizing the method? Again, if you're using ozone monitoring around the world, you just don't want to calibrate the Brewers. You want to standardize the method, calibrate the method.

Those are the kinds of things where you have primarily a scientific input and give standards to the data centre to adhere to them.

Last time I checked, I think there were 400 sites around the world that provide spectro data into the World Ozone and UV Radiation Data Centre. This is a huge amount of data. Meteorological services, with its background in weather data, is very experienced in the handling of data. We certainly felt it was quite an appropriate move to give the data management to people with an expertise in data management and to maintain the science of ozone and the health of the ozone layer in the science and technology branch.

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Thanks for that.

I guess when I think about the criticisms of this plan, with the example I used about data managers not being able to catch data errors because of their lack of scientific knowledge, I understand, or I think I understand, how you're explaining scientific oversight when you say there are standards they need to adhere to. But I still hear criticism coming from the community that says this plan is inadequate and that the acceptable standards of oversight aren't met, maybe as a lack of integration. We do have data managers handling this information who don't have the necessary scientific lens to judge what it is they're managing.

[Dr. Karen Dodds]

The individual scientists you have maybe heard from may not be representative of the general community.

Certainly some of my staff met with the scientific advisory group at the end of the summer. Just last week I was in Geneva and met with the individuals at the World Meteorological Organization who oversee this. They understand what we're doing and they were supportive of it.

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Actually, I would like to ask you questions about the feedback you are getting about this. I mean, I'm not in your department, right? I'm not interacting with these folks every day.

What other feedback are you getting from the scientific community?

[Dr. Karen Dodds]

As far as I know, apart from the discussion at the scientific advisory group, we certainly haven't received any direct criticisms.

I don't know, Charles, whether you've had letters in.

Again, the scientific advisory group would be the world's congregation of those who are considered the experts on ozone, which is different from.... We are at a stage in looking at the ozone in terms of moving this to a routine monitoring function and some research work. There have been a lot of researchers, but to do routine monitoring around the world and really understand things, you need to be very standardized and very consistent in your methods and in your analysis of data. That's where we're going.

[The Chair, Conservative, Mark Warawa]

Time has expired, but Mr. Lin, you may go ahead.

[Dr. Charles Lin]

If I may jump in here, for the scientific advisory group that Dr. Dodds mentioned, the last meeting came at the tail end of the Quadrennial Ozone Symposium, which is an international symposium held every four years that gathers all the ozone experts from around the world. The announcement was made of this change, that the data centre would still remain within Environment Canada but would be under the auspices of the meteorological service for the reasons that Dr. Dodds already explained. It was in front of an international audience and scientists that this announcement was made and received.

Now, the second point I want to make is that Environment Canada still has top scientists in ozone science. In Dr. Dodds' speech, she mentioned the 2011 Nature paper co-authored with others by, I believe, two Environment Canada scientists.

So we have the science capacity to oversee the data. We're not going to do it alone. We're going to rely on science experts from other countries. But that's fair enough. The ozone issue is a worldwide issue, and the distribution of ozone varies from one location to another, so it is truly an international effort under the auspices of the WMO.

[The Chair, Conservative, Mark Warawa]

Thank you. Time has expired.

Ms. Leslie, you have seven minutes.