NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Gwich'in Settlement Area

Tags: physical sciences, water chemistry, marine mammals, ecosystem, shelf-basin exchange

Objective(s): To characterize the western Arctic Boundary current, which flows at the edge of the shelf, in order to understand its role in dictating shelf-basin exchange of water and materials and how it impacts the ecosystem of the region, including the occurrence of marine mammals.

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No.4747. The main objective is to characterize the western Arctic Boundary current, which flows at the edge of the shelf, in order to understand its role in dictating shelf-basin exchange of water and materials and how it impacts the ecosystem of the region, including the occurrence of marine mammals. This project is a collaboration between US and Canadian scientists. The research team are using a combination of year-round subsurface moorings in the boundary current and seasonal (summertime/autumn) shipboard measurements. The moorings will be deployed in US waters, and several of the shipboard transects will be occupied in Canadian waters. On the ship the research team will lower the instrument package (standard CTD/Rosette) at each station. The package carries a suite of electronic sensors to measure water properties (temperature, salinity, oxygen, turbidity, fluorescence) and 10 litre bottles that are closed at specified depths to take water samples (salinity, nutrients, chlorophyll, radium). No fish sampling will be conducted. Data reports will be available and scientific papers will be published based on the data. The research team will plan on outreach visits to the local communities explaining the results. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from October 27, 2020 to November 20, 2020.