Project Description: Kitikmeot Region Marine Science Study.
The Kitikmeot Region Marine Science Study (KRMSS) is a Fisheries and Oceans Canada led project to gather baseline oceanographic data and evaluate marine ecosystem structure in the Kitikmeot Region between Dolphin and Union Strait in the west and Larsen Sound in the north and east. Scientific collaborators on the project include scientists from Canada, USA and Norway under DFO leadership. Logistically the project is supported by DFO, Polar Knowledge Canada and the Arctic Research Foundation.
To collect oceanographic samples and data, and to recover/deploy subsurface oceanographic moorings we use the Arctic Research Foundation’s, Transport Canada certified, 62ft long, RV Martin Bergmann during the months of August and September from its home port of Cambridge Bay. The maximum number of people involved at any one time is 12-13 – the maximum capacity of the RV Martin Bergmann and comprises 6 crew and up to 7 scientists. Occasionally a float plane will meet the ship to change crew and scientists, but resupply and crew/scientist change of the RV Martin Bergmann is typically in Cambridge Bay. Travel to and from Cambridge Bay is via Canadian North or First Air and accommodation is with local hotels and the Canadian High Arctic Research Station.
To make our measurements we use:
• Electronic sensors (for temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll fluorescence, turbidity, underwater light, underwater video, and dissolved carbon dioxide)
• Very low power acoustics (for water velocity and backscatter from zooplankton and fish). These acoustics are similar in power to the depth sounders normally used on boats and ships.
• Hydrophones (to listen for marine mammals and ship noise)
• Water samples for ocean geochemistry, primary production, dissolved nutrients, salinity, dissolved inorganic carbon, dissolved organic matter and stable isotopes.
• Small Bottom grab and box core to collect samples of benthic organisms and seafloor mud.
• Fine mesh net to collect zooplankton samples.
• Small GPS surface drifters to measure surface currents.
• A 16ft skiff, usually launched from the RV Martin Bergmann, to obtain water samples from various river mouths for geochemical analysis of the river flowing into the ocean. (We have obtained a permit from the CWS for access to the Ellis River in the Queen Maud Gulf Migratory Bird Sanctuary.)
• Moorings: Some of the electronic sensors and acoustics are mounted on temporary subsurface moorings that reach from the seafloor to 15m below the surface.
For 2017, we plan to be working aboard the RV Martin Bergmann from 10 August to 20 September to investigate the broad-scale oceanography of the region and evaluate the importance of tidal mixing in narrow straits to the biological productivity of the region. Broad scale oceanography will be investigated in: Dease Strait, Bathurst Inlet, Queen Maud Gulf and Chantry Inlet/Rasmussen Basin/St Roche Basin. Tidal straits to be investigated are: around Finlayson Islands (including deployment of temporary oceanographic subsurface moorings), narrows in Bathurst Inlet, Simpson Strait, Rae Strait, James Ross Strait and Victoria Strait. In addition we plan to sample the flow of rivers into the Kitikmeot Sea including the large rivers: Hood River, Burnside River, Western River, Ellice River, Back River. Our planned route, proposed sampling locations and mooring locations are shown below.
Because our project covers the entire Kitikmeot Region it will work close to all communities (Cambridge Bay, Gjoa Haven, Bathurst Inlet, Umingmaktok, Taloyoak, Kugluktuk) and aims to develop marine monitoring plans in collaboration with communities and the ongoing wintertime Canadian Rangers Ocean Watch.
The oceanographic sampling and data collection of KRMSS is very typical of oceanography programs and similar to that conducted by C.J. Mundy (U. Manitoba; Arctic-ICE project) that also uses the RV Martin Bergmann; the Canadian Rangers Ocean Watch project (CROW; J. Eert, B Williams, DFO), and ArcticNet (which conducts its research from the CCGS Amundsen). KMRSS was conducted under CJ Mundy’s NRI license in 2016 (NRI license number 04 018 16R-M-Amended), but we feel that the board geographic scope and long-term aims of KRMSS warrant obtaining a separate license.
KRMSS is currently funded for the 2017 and 2018 field seasons, though we aim to continue and ultimately develop an oceanographic monitoring plan for the region to assess the implications of climate change to the marine ecosystem in the Kitikmeot.