DFO Northwest Atlantic Ocean Monitoring & Mooring Programs

1. DFO Northwest Atlantic Ocean Monitoring & Mooring Programs OSNAP Planning Meeting 26-27 April 2011 BIO

2. Atlantic Zone Monitoring Program (AZMP) • Focuses on physics, chemistry and lower trophic-level biology on the continental shelf and upper slope. • Data collected since 1998 • Cooperative effort of DFO Gulf, Maritimes, Newfoundland & Labrador, and Quebec regions, with Integrated Science Data Management (HQ) • Objectives: • Characterize and understand the causes of ocean variability at seasonal and interannual scales. • Provide adequate data to support sound development of ocean activities. • Provide historical databases to address future issues.

3. AZMP – Composite Climate Index

4. Bottom Temperature Strongly Related to NAO (Petrie, 2007) Impact on Continental Shelf Negative NAO → warmer than normal bottom temperatures over the Labrador-Newfoundland Shelf, the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the eastern Scotian Shelf; and colder than normal conditions over the central and western Scotian Shelf and Gulf of Maine. The pattern is reversed under positive NAO forcing. Temperature Anomaly

5. AZOMP – Labrador Sea • Labrador Sea (AR7W) and Extended Halifax Section (XHL) Monitoring Program • One cruise per year in the May/June period • PO component focuses on interannual variability in water mass properties and circulation including DWBC, and related atmospheric and ice conditions. • CO component focuses on nutrients, the carbon cycle, carbon dioxide storage, and chemical tracers which indicate circulation patterns and rates. • BO component focuses on lower-trophic-level (bacteria, phytoplankton, zooplankton) biomass, productivity and biogenic carbon inventories (particulate and dissolved organic carbon).

6. AZOMP – Argo & Complementary Data • Argo Float Program • Used to complement observations from AR7W and XHL • BIO is one of the DFO oceanographic labs which contribute to the International Argo Program. • T & S profiles are used in developing AZOMP indices and products. • Complementary Observations • Remote sensing SST and color through AZMP • Met. and sea ice observations • Slope and deep water obs from AZMP • Monitoring of flows through Canadian Archipelago and Davis Strait Argo float locations as of 16 Feb 2010

7. Moored Current/Hydrographic Measurements • Issues: • Arctic outflows (with UW) • Labrador Current & other slope currents/hydrographic variability • Currents variability for oil & gas issues • Deep flows connecting to AMOC • Locations since 2000 (at present): • Davis Strait (w UW) • Labrador Shelf & Slope • Orphan Basin & Knoll • Flemish Pass • Laurentian Channel & Fan • Scotian Slope (w & w/o UK RAPID)

8. Near-Bottom Currents

9. Summary • Well-established monitoring programs provide a strong basis of collaboration with OSNAP. • Monitoring and enhanced understanding (e.g. ecosystems) of the Labrador and Newfoundland shelves is a high priority for DFO. • Moored activity is declining with DFO due to changes in funding availability.

11. Halifax Marine Research Institute • HMRI is a newly-established entity to foster collaboration between Dalhousie University and other local universities with federal government labs • Doug Wallace (CERC Chair) – executive director

12. Doug Wallace – Research Interests • Central Labrador Sea Biogeochemical Mooring with SeaCycler. This could be a contribution to OceanSITES and a nascent sub-program called MOIN Possibly a Halifax-Kiel cooperative effort.

13. Needs:

14. Doug Wallace – Research Interests • Central Labrador Sea Biogeochemical Mooring with SeaCycler. This could be a contribution to OceanSITES and a nascent sub-program called MOIN Possibly a Halifax-Kiel cooperative effort. • Orphan Basin Observatory with interest in air-sea heat and CO2 flux, deep circulation and Lab Sea outflow.

15. Climatological Mean Air-Sea CO2 Flux (Takahashi et al, 2009)

16. Doug Wallace – Research Interests • Central Labrador Sea Biogeochemical Mooring with SeaCycler. This could be a contribution to OceanSITES and a nascent sub-program called MOIN Possibly a Halifax-Kiel cooperative effort. • Orphan Basin Observatory with interest in air-sea heat and CO2 flux, deep circulation and Lab Sea outflow. • Surface pCO2 sampling in the region wherever possible.

17. ICOS-OCEAN: North Atlantic Observing System (with future Canadian involvement?) Hausgarten Cape Verde Ocean Observatory Instrumented shipping route

18. Doug Wallace – Research Interests • Central Labrador Sea Biogeochemical Mooring with SeaCycler. This could be a contribution to OceanSITES and a nascent sub-program called MOIN Possibly a Halifax-Kiel cooperative effort. • Orphan Basin Observatory with interest in air-sea heat and CO2 flux, deep circulation and Lab Sea outflow. • Surface pCO2 sampling in the region wherever possible. • Possible sub-surface tracer release experiment somewhere along the western Lab Sea or Newfoundland slope. Kiel group and Jim Ledwell (WHOI) have both expressed interest. • General hydrographic work in the region in close collaboration with Kumiko on freshwater tracers, CO2, etc…