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Régions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region

étiquettes: physical sciences, hydrology, sediment, ocean physics, sediment transport

Description du projet: The Beaufort Sea shelf is very shallow and the Mackenzie River, which sends freshwater, nutrients, and particles onto the shelf, may have a large influence on its productivity. The researchers would like to study the effects of the river in transporting particles to the shelf by measuring the types of particles, how fast they sink, and how easily they are stirred from the bottom. They would also like to measure the changes as the shelf waters change from winter to spring conditions. The researchers will be staying in Tuktoyaktuk. Small boats will be chartered from Tuktoyaktuk (or skidoos on the ice, conditions permitting), to take water and sediment samples. Samples will be taken in shallow water (2-10 m) in the river, at the edge of the wave reworking zone off Kugmallit Bay. The research team has several tools they will be using to measure how fast particles settle, how particles interact, how big they are, and what they are made of; how easily different kinds of sediment can be disturbed; how much chlorophyll, oxygen, salt, plankton, and particles there are in the water; and how fast the water is moving. These tools include a perspex settling chamber, a digital camera, a volume sampler, a towed conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) measuring device, a portable sediment erosion device, a hand-held sediment corer, and a current meter mooring. The researchers will be hiring a local assistant from Tuktoyaktuk who will also serve as their Wildlife Monitor. They will be using services provided in Tuktoyaktuk. The study will be conducted within 10 km of Tuktoyaktuk in the inner Kugmallit Bay area.