CAN 54 FISHERIES RESEARCH BOARD OF CANADA ANNUAL REPORT of th< PACIFIC OCEANOGRAPHIC GROUP NANAIMO, B.C. :• 1963 1S2J} ^AN30J964 • December 31, 1963 Restricted FISHERIES RESEARCH BOARD OF CANADA ANNUAL REPORT of the PACIFIC OCEANOGRAPHIC GROUP NANAIMO, B.C. 1963 December 31, 1963 CONTENTS Pages Annual Report, 1963 1- 4 Sea Operations 5 Cooperations and Liaisons 6- 8 Technical Services 8- 9 Staff List 9-10 Publications, Manuscript Reports and Special Reports 11-14 Summary Reports of Research Projects 15-71 North Pacific Ocean 17-42 Coastal Waters 43-67 Special or Support Projects 68-71 Restricted This is a private document. It may not be quoted as a scientific reference. Further information or reference material may be obtained from the publications listed on pages 11-14, or by correspondence with: Oceanographer in Charge Fisheries Research Board of Canada Pacific Oceanographic Group Nanaimo, B. C. December 31, 1963 Figure 1. y FISHERIES RESEARCH BOARD OF CANADA PACIFIC OCEANOGRAPHIC GROUP ANNUAL REPORT, 1963 The Pacific Oceanographic Group is a section of the Biological Station, Nanaimo, B.C., of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada. Under this direction and in cooperation with the Canadian Committee on Oceanography, the Group carries out research and coordinates all possible resources to fulfill the national requirements for oceanography in the Pacific area of interest (north of Lat. 40°N, and east of Long. 180°). The requirements are to solve the oceanographic aspects of fisheries, military and industrial problems. In turn, these require the definition of the oceanographic conditions in all parts of the area and provision for their continuous assessment and forecasting. Oceanographic conditions are defined by the properties and structure of the water. These vary from place to place and from time to time. In the present state of the art, they are observed by shipborne oceanographic surveys which are slow, tedious and costly. It is economically impossible to main tain comprehensive surveys in all areas all the time. It is only possible to survey limited areas at seasonal intervals. Such data, by themselves, are not adequate to monitor the oceanographic situations. However, with the aid of theory and analogues (hydraulic models) they can be made to reveal the sequences of oceanographic events and their relation to readily observed features such as shore and bottom, weather, runoff, tide and daily surface seawater observations at convenient, fixed positions. Other government agencies provide adequate descriptions and monitoring of all except the oceanographic features. Hence, the procedure is to define the properties and structures in each locality from a minimum of oceanographic surveys, define their relations to the readily observed features, and so provide simple, economic systems of monitoring, assessment and forecasting. Since 1930 repeated surveys have been made in successive seasons, through a few years, in each locality. Also, daily observations of surface properties and structure have been made at as many fixed locations as possible. These data have been catalogued and published. Descriptive oceanography From time to time, as sufficient data became available, descriptive models of oceanographic behaviour were deduced. These models define the oceanographic environment in terms of water types, structures and their behaviour. They define how the structures are created, maintained and changed. They define the relation of the structures to weather, runoff,tide and the daily seawater observations. They made it possible to apply oceanography to fisheries, military and industrial problems and to provide an oceanographic information and forecasting service. Significant progress* has been made in all these aspects. During the past year a considerable proportion of the effort has been devoted to finalizing and reporting researches on additional models. - 2 - The recently completed behaviour model of the growth and decay of the seasonal thermocline in the Subarctic Pacific Ocean is the culmination of the research on the heating and cooling, and wind mixing and convection pro cesses. It allows assessment and forecasting of temperature structure in the seasonal zone (0-100 m depth). The thermocline model has been extended to define the structure and behaviour in seven oceanographic climatic regions from the Equator to the Arctic in the North Pacific Ocean. These models define the different methods of assessing and forecasting oceanographic conditions in each region but allow the conclusions to be presented in a universally consistent and comprehensible manner. They provide for a mu'ch needed systematization in the presentation of oceanographic parameters. Below the limit of seasonal variation (about 100 m depth) the pro perties and structure do not change rapidly and, in the eastern Subarctic Pacific, they may be monitored by occasional observations at judiciously chosen points. Evidently the annual synoptic surveys are no longer necessary. They may be replaced by very simple lines of monitoring observations. The region along the ocean coast (the Coastal Domain, Fig. 1) has been shown to be transitional between the coastal estuarine region and the oceanic region, and is influenced by both. In these ocean coastal waters, the seasonal sequence of structures have been defined. With the aid of theory, the influence of wind on them has been described. This model is being extended to define the structures in terms of observed winds and runoff, and relate it to the daily seawater observations. This includes the structure and behaviour of the near surface and bottom waters on the continental shelf and slope. In the near ocean there is an annual intrusion of waters from the Sub- tropics northward past the west coast of Vancouver Island. Occasionally this becomes extreme, as in 1958. This behaviour is being monitored by daily seawater observations, and the line of observations every six weeks between the coast and Ocean Station "P". The studies in the inland seaways are nearing fruition. With the aid of the hydraulic model of the Hecate region the data accumulated since 1937 have been assessed. The oceanography of Dixon Entrance has been solved and is being prepared for publication. It is a complex estuarine system in which the oceanographic structures and domains are primarily determined by the tidal mechanisms and the flushing is determined by winds. There is good evidence that oceanographic conditions can be monitored by a marginal expan sion of the daily seawater observations and mean sea level data. This power ful technique is being extended to Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound, where a conclusion is expected during the coming year. Monitoring There are three major monitoring systems in operation now. Daily observations of surface seawater temperature and salinity are made at 14 positions (mostly at lightstations) (Fig. 1) along the ocean coast and the inland seaways. This program has been in operation for more than thirty years and, when interpreted in the light of the oceanographic behaviour models, it provides calendars of events in the waters over the continental shelf which - 3 - can be correlated with statistical fisheries history. Ocean Station "P" (Lat. 50°N, Long. 145°W) in the Central Subarctic Domain (Fig. 1) is occupied during alternate six-week periods by two weatherships (C.C.G.S. "St. Catharines" and "Stonetown"). Both ships make twice daily bathythermo graph observations. One ship, C.C.G.S. "St. Catharines", carries an oceano- grapher who makes comprehensive observations from surface to bottom while the ship is "on station". These data monitor conditions in the eastern Central Subarctic Domain. A sequence of oceanographic observations, from surface to bottom, are made from this ship en route to and from Ocean Station "P". This sequence (Line "P", Fig. 1) provides a monitor through the Coastal, Transition and Central Subarctic Domains every six weeks. These monitoring systems are operating with classical equipment and procedures. The data are published immediately, and atlases showing useful analyses have been prepared. These (MS) reports form the bases for analytical studies and correlation with fisheries. In addition, weather, sea surface temperature and some bathythermograms are observed by transitting ships, fisheries vessels, Picket and Weatherships. These data are collected and made available to an oceanographic information service created in the Naval and Air Force Weather Services. In these centres the forecasters receive the temperature data daily, analyse it according to the oceanographic models and provide regular assessments of structure and forecasts. These results are distributed to all agencies by mail (weekly) and to some agencies by radio facsimile (daily). The accumulation of these charts provides historical records of temperature structures. These monitoring systems and the information service are limited by the existing classical equipment and procedures. There is an immediate need for new high-speed monitoring and interpretation techniques. To this end a philosophy of analysis of continuous records of sea surface temperature, to reveal many features of structure in the seasonal zone (0-100 metres depth) has been derived. Sophisticated airborne radiation thermometers have been designed and built with some financial assistance from the RCAF. This equip ment is to be carried by Maritime Air Command during regular daily routine patrols off the Canadian coast. These will provide much needed