SCIENCE REVIEW 1987 - Bedford Institute of Oceanography

Excerpts from the Log
LISTED below are some of the events that occurred during 1987.
The selection was made by Brian Nicholls:
� A three day workshop was held at BIO in February to explore
the usefulness of ecosystem models in environmental impact
assessment. The workshop was attended by representatives from
industry, university and federal government departments. They
concluded that ecological modeling can be a very powerful tool for
environmental impact assessment.
� The first held prototype of the Arctic Ice Monitoring System,
AIMS 1, completed operational trials during February. The system
was jointly developed by DFO Scotia-Fundy Region Science
Sector’s Physical and Chemical Sciences Branch (PCSB) and
Seimac Ltd. It was set up to measure engineering parameters such as
wave induced acceleration and to transmit the data to shore-based
computers via the ARGOS satellite link.
� A computer-based telephone answering system that provides
tidal information became operational during March. The system,
“Dial-A-Tide”, was developed by a local consulting firm with
assistance from the Canadian Hydrographic Service at BIO.
� Atlantic Geoscience Centre (AGC) staff of DEMR participated
in a two-week course in offshore mineral exploration and
development organized by the International Centre for Ocean
Development (ICOD) and the Mineral Policy Branch of DEMR for
senior geologists from Third World countries. The course, held in
Halifax in March, had thirteen participants from Pacific, Asian,
South American and African nations. It included a demonstration of
survey methods on a small vessel in Halifax harbour.
� BIO was host to the 9th Annual Canada - U.S. Scientific
Discussions during the week of March 9. Canadian fisheries
scientists from the Gulf, Newfoundland, Quebec and Scotia-Fundy
Regions of DFO met with their counterparts from Woods Hole,
Massachusetts to discuss a range of topics concerning the biology
and management of coastal marine populations.
� A field study of the marginal ice zone off Labrador was carried
out by PCSB during March as part of the multi-institutional sea-ice
research program, the Labrador Ice Margin Experiment (LIMEX).
This part of the program, involving the CSS Baffin, resulted in the
collection of ice surface and under-ice data from eleven ice floes. A
helicopter was employed farther inside the pack ice for aerial
photography and CTD measurements.
� On May 13, at the five-yearly meeting of the International
Hydrographic Organization (IHO) in Monaco, Adam Kerr,
Regional Director of the Canadian Hydrographic Service at BIO,
was elected one of the three directors of the IHO. This organization
was founded early in this century to foster the exchange of chart
information between maritime nations and to encourage standardization
in chart design and symbology.
� On May 19, Stephen MacPhee replaced Barry Muir as
Regional Director, Science, Scotia-Fundy Region.
� From May 19 to July 2, a staff member of AGC participated
in Leg 115 of the Ocean Drilling Program involving a voyage of the
JOIDES Resolution in the Indian Ocean. The objectives were to
sample basalts for plate velocity and reconstruction studies and to
determine Neogene history of carbonate productivity and
dissolution in the equatorial waters of the area. Previously, another
member of AGC participated in Leg 112 of the Ocean Drilling
Program to the Peru continental margin.
� The Scientific Council of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries
Organization (NAFO) held its main meeting of the year at the
organization’s headquarters at BIO. The meeting was held during
the period June 3-17. Regional staff from the Physical and
Chemical Sciences and Biological Sciences Branches, including staff
from the St. Andrews Biological Station and the Halifax Fisheries
Research Laboratory, contributed to meetings of its various
committees.
� A marine finfish aquaculture program was initiated at the St.
Andrews Biological Station in which halibut is emerging as the
leading candidate for research because of its high demand and
market value. A research cruise was undertaken in the area of Sable
Island Gully in July and 24 adult halibut were caught and returned
to St. Andrews to become brood stock for larval rearing studies
under this program.
� From July 2 to August 10, five personnel from AGC
conducted a marine seismic reflection and geological sampling
survey in the channels of the Lougheed Island/King Christian Island
region of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Objectives were to
determine the geological and geotechnical properties and regional
character of the unconsolidated sediments, and to identify
constraints to engineering developments in the inter-island channels
with respect to hydrocarbon development.
� Four scientists from BIO, Peter Jones, Doug Wallace and
Frank Zemlyak of PCSB and Peta Moody of AGC, participated in
an international expedition onboard the German icebreaker. F.S.
Polarstern, to the Nansen Basin of the Arctic Ocean. On August 5,
F.S. Polarstern reached 86°11’N, the most northerly point of the
first oceanographic section across a major basin in the Arctic Ocean
and the most northerly point ever reached by a research vessel in the
Arctic Ocean, surpassing that of the Nansen expedition of nearly a
century ago by about 20 miles. The two-month long expedition
gathered extensive oceanographic and geological data that showed
considerable variations in the Arctic Ocean on a basin-wide scale.
� On Wednesday August 5, Mr. A.J. Kerr (Regional Hydrographer,
Scotia-Fundy Region), Mr. Ross Douglas (Director-
General, Canadian Hydrographic Service) and Rear-Admiral
R. Moses (Director of the Atlantic Marine Center, U.S. National
Ocean Survey, Norfolk, VA) visited CSS Baffin in Passamaquoddy
Bay. The visit marked the successful conclusion of the joint Canada-
U.S. survey program in this boundary area.
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