Six projects were designed to provide value added marine work to the passage of the CCGS Louis S. St. Laurent through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago during the Swedish Tundra Northwest 1999 programme.

Projects and accomplishments

1. Marine mammal and bird observation

On board participants: J. Reist, B. Dunn, and B. Sjare, Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Martin Green, Department of Animal Ecology, Lund University.
Other participants: Patt Hall, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Winnipeg, Canada.

The geographic and temporal distributions of marine mammals in the Canadian Arctic are not completely known. This is especially the case for areas which are not regularly travelled, distant from communities, and at times other than summer. Global change may result in significant shifts in such distributions; therefore establishing present distributions through opportunities presented by the Tundra Northwest 1999 expedition was a high priority.

Aim

The objective of this work was to systematically record observations of marine mammals (species, numbers, location, activity, environmental parameters) during the icebreaker transit of the archipelago. An operational component of this included observation of bowhead whales in the vicinity of Fury and Hecla Strait and advice to Tundra Northwest 1999 and Coast Guard staff during the transit of the strait.

Accomplishments

Observations for marine mammals and marine birds were conducted for approximately 40% of the distance covered during the expedition. Marine mammal results will be prepared by P. Hall and marine bird results will be prepared by M. Green. Marine mammal species observed included: bowhead whales, beluga whales, killer whales, ringed seals, bearded seals, harp seals, and polar bears. Distributions of marine mammals were patchy, closely associated with distributions of sea birds, and were probably associated with areas of high marine productivity.

2. Marine fishing

On board participants: Canada – John Jorgenson, Blair Dunn, Ana Putar, Jim Reist; Sweden – Peter Mortensen, Mats Hjelmberg, Anders Hansson, Swedish Museum of Natural History.

This work was closely co-ordinated with the marine fishing project of the Swedish Museum of Natural History. Marine fish faunas are generally poorly known in the Canadian Arctic.

Aim

The objective of this project was to sample near-shore marine fish during the stops for the land-based tundra work to support several activities in Canada and Sweden.

Accomplishments

About 700 specimens representing about 11 species were collected and many of these represent new distributional records for the Arctic which will be included in ongoing research conducted by J. Reist. Most specimens were returned to Sweden for incorporation in to museum collections and for ongoing research there (see report prepared by museum staff).

3. Marine oceanography

On board participants: J. Eert, Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
Other participants: Dr. Eddy Carmack, Dr. Humfrey Melling, Dr. Robbie Macdonald, and Fiona McLaughlin, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Sidney.

Through flow of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago is recognised as a central question in global change, and the archipelago has been identified as a thematic region for climate research.

Aim

The objective of this work was to better understand the interactions among physical and biological systems within the archipelago in the face of global warming.

Accomplishments

This work opportunistically collected fundamental oceanographic data (e.g. CTD, transmissivity) during station stops on leg 1. These data will be incorporated into existing databases to investigate the large scale shifts in the archipelago throughflow.

4. Marine sediment sampling

On board participants: Blair Dunn, Jane Eert, Ana Putar and James Reist, Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Other participants: Dr. P. Mudie and Steve Blasco, Geological Survey of Canada, Dartmouth, Canada, Dr. David Mosher, Geological Survey of Canada, Sidney, Canada, Dr. R. Macdonald and F. McLaughlin, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Sidney, Canada, Dr. Rob Stewart, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Winnipeg, Canada.

Marine sediments from channel basins in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago provide signatures of the following environmental parameters: paleoclimate, paleohydrology, carbon budget, contaminants, and stable isotopes as environmental signatures for structuring of marine mammal stocks.

Aim

The objective of this work was to obtain box core sediment samples for ongoing Canadian programmes and to also ground truth the Seabed Classification Project where possible (see below).

Accomplishments

Two box cores were obtained on leg 1 from depths of 33 and 211 m, 9 box cores were obtained on leg 2 from depths between 47 and 750 m, and 1 additional grab sample was obtained on leg 2. Six cores from each box core will be distributed to the relevant researchers to fulfil their objectives. In addition on leg 2, core samples from the marine box cores were obtained by Dr. Hans Borg, Institute of Applied Environmental Research, Stockholm University, and Dr. Markus Meili, Institute of Earth Sciences and Sedimentology, Uppsala University, for use in their respective programmes investigating contaminants in the Arctic. Portions of these cores will also be used by Dr. Henrik Kylin, Department of Environmental Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, for organic contaminant research.

5. Marine water/air contaminant sampling

On board participants: Liisa Jantunen; Dr. Henrik Kylin (leg 2), Department of Environmental Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala. Other participants: Dr. Terry Bidleman, Environment Canada, Downsview, Canada, and Dr. W. Strachan, Canada Centre for Inland Waters, Burlington, Canada.

Previous measurements of organochlorine pesticides (OCs) in air and water have covered the Bering-Chukchi seas, the northern portion of the Canada Basin, the central Canadian Archipelago, the Barents Sea and the eastern Arctic Ocean. No data have been collected for the eastern part of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.

Aim

The objectives for Tundra Northwest 1999 were:

1. to extend our survey of toxaphene, HCHs and chlordanes in the water and air of the eastern Archipelago,
2. to investigate the enantioselective breakdown of a-HCH in this area,
3. to measure polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs) in the air and determine whether shipboard measurements can be performed cleanly for this class of compound.

Accomplishments

Air sampling was conducted throughout most of the transit while the ship was moving and sampling of marine waters was conducted where possible across the archipelago. More details on the sampling can be obtained in the report for Theme E.

6. Seabed classification system development (bottom mapping)

On board participants: J. Jorgensen. Other participants: Eric Gyselman, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Winnipeg, Canada, Dr. David Mosher, Geological Survey of Canada, Sidney, Canada, Bill Collins and Karl Rhynas, Questar Tangent Corporation, Sidney, Canada.

Recent developments in hydroacoustic seabed classification have created a powerful tool for mapping habitat types on the sea floor. However, since the technology is new, there are many applications for which it has yet to be perfected. One of these is very deep waters (>700 m).

Aim

The objective of this project was to develop the capability to classify seabed types with the same resolution as in shallow water to a depth of 1500 m.

Accomplishments

Bottom signatures at station stops and coring sample sites were collected on leg 1. Technical and scheduling problems encountered on board on leg 2 precluded complete deployment of the system in the deep waters of Baffin Bay (arrangements are being made to attempt to complete this project during the southward voyage of the ship from Lancaster Sound to Halifax in November 1999).