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Arctic Physical Oceanography
Ingram Research Group, Earth and Ocean Sciences, UBC
The Canadian shelf waters of the Arctic Ocean cover a large surface area, including the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and Hudson Bay. This region draws its characteristics and associated properties (e.g. T, S, nutrients, organic carbon, plankton, sediments) from the Arctic Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean and numerous rivers. The area is subject to extreme annual and interannual variations in both its ice cover and river inflow. The oceanography of the shelf can be divided into four different periods related to the interaction between the two dominant cycles of runoff and air temperature.
Hudson Bay is a large inland sea which acts in many ways like a large estuary. A highly seasonal flux of river water, an input of Arctic Ocean surface waters at its northern end, and an extensive sea ice cover over much of the year characterize this region. Because of anticipated large increases of air temperature and decreases in sea ice volume, it is important to distinguish between changes in the physical properties of the coastal regime resulting from river regulation and diversion and those related to climate change.
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