ASSOCIATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM BASAL FUNDING FOR SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE TECHNICAL PROGRESS REPORT COPAS Sur-Austral: OCEANOGRAPHIC APPLICATIONS FOR THE SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOUTHERN REGION OF CHILE - Concepción, May 22, 2013 - 1 REPORT PERIOD : FIRST PHASE OF THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN PERIOD COVERED : From 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2013 (INDICATE EXACT DATES) I. PRESENTATION 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Development Plan of the Center for Oceanographic Research in the eastern South Pacific (COPAS) within the Basal Funding Program of CONICYT was designed to respond to the scientific, technological, productive, social, environmental, and educational needs of Chile’s southern zone, Regions X (Los Lagos) and especially XI (Aysén). COPAS Sur-Austral identified three strategic areas of development in the Chilean Patagonia : 1) Monitoring and Forecasting, 2) Fisheries, and 3) Aquaculture, aiming at bridging science of excellence with existing gaps in knowledge and technological transfer required by both the private and the public sectors. The development of our program considered 4 main research-oriented lines that converge in addressing the strategic areas mentioned above from a multidisciplinary point of view, promoting an active interaction among teams and thus contributing significantly to the integration of results, and generating scientific information on Patagonian fjord ecology leading to a better understanding of the structure and dynamics of such complex marine environments. The four research lines are: Line 1: Regional Oceanic Information System; Line 2: Environmental Variability associated to natural and anthropogenic freshwater flow disturbances in the XI Region; Line 3: Ecosystem variability and Demersal and Benthic Fisheries; and Line 4: Environmental Investigation and Biotechnological Innovation for Sustainable Aquaculture. Within the 3 strategic areas, COPAS Sur-Austral established seven central objectives , as follows: 1) To create a Continuous Oceanographic Observation Platform with state-of-the-art technology, leading to the development of analytical and predictive capacities of key oceanographic processes for the economic development of southern Chile. 2) To generate forecasts of key oceanographic and meteorological variables that lead to the optimization of connectivity and operations of regional productive activities (navigation, aquaculture, fisheries, and tourism). 3) To evaluate the effects of variations in freshwater input on the marine ecosystems in Regions X and XI. 4) To evaluate the effects generated by natural changes and/or anthropogenic alterations on the ecosystem associated with demersal fisheries and benthic management areas in critical geographic zones. 5) To develop a forecasting model that integrates oceanographic variables with cellular and molecular detection techniques for detecting harmful planktonic microorganisms that could affect aquaculture centers in Region XI. 6) To train human resources of excellence in applied areas of oceanography and strengthen their connection with public and private sectors through a program of technological transfer, training, and outreach. 7) To develop products/technological services for the public and private sectors based on scientific research aimed at increasing efficiency and competitiveness. Below we summarize our most relevant results within the context of the 7 central objectives. RESEARCH : The most relevant scientific results achieved during Year 5 are: Objective 1: To create a Continuous Oceanographic Observation Platform with state-of-the-art technology Physical oceanography surveys focused on both, spatial variability combining different observational strategies and temporal variability mainly based on mooring observations, covering several places: Reloncaví Fjord (~41° 40’S), Corcovado Gulf in the southern part of the Chiloé inland sea (~43° 30’S), Aysén Fjord (~45°20’S), the Puyuhuapi Channel (45ºS), the mouth of the Baker River and the Martinez Channel (48ºS), and the Magellan 3 Strait (~53°S). Our approach has involved the deployment of a relatively large amount of oceanographic equipment, the use of several measuring platforms and the coordination of different research groups (R+D Lines 1, 3 and 4). The increasing need to generate high quality oceanographic observations led the Sur-Austral to apply for CONICYT funding to start a Patagonian Oceanographic Observation Network (ROP in Spanish). The first observation node of the network is thus been funded thanks to a grant from the Fondo de Equipamiento Científico y Tecnológico (FONDEQUIP). The aim of this first node is to serve as a pilot program for the network, as well as to provide critical oceanographic and meteorological data, in real time, in a fjord (Reloncaví Fjord) that has been subject to heavy use by the aquaculture industry (R+D Line 4). The node consists of two components: 1) A land based meteorological station, which is capable of measuring wind speed and direction, relative humidity, air temperature, barometric pressure and photosynthetic active radiation; and 2) An oceanographic mooring, a Land-Ocean-Buoy Observatory (LOBO, manufactured by Satlantic in Canada) capable of measuring surface properties including water temperature, salinity, chlorophyll concentration, nitrate concentration, dissolved oxygen, colored dissolved organic matter and turbidity. The node was set up near the town of Cochamó, roughly half way along the Reloncaví fjord , on March 9th, 2013 (Fig. 1). The data collected by the node is being quality-controlled and a bi-monthly maintenance program will start shortly. As configured, the real-time transmission and online publication system for the data is vendor-dependent. During the next year, we will work to integrate the different data feeds into an online data display system that will allow the use of instrumentation manufactured by other vendors. Fig. 1 4 This system, in turn, will allow greater flexibility to design and deploy other observation nodes around Patagonia using existing technologies. This aspect is critical as different industry, governmental or other actors will require a different set of variables, sampling rates, deployment lengths, etc. We are working on modular designs that preserve real-time capabilities and return high quality data but provide a wide range of configuration options and can be acquired, deployed and maintained at low cost. During Year 5, R+D Line 1 focused on the study of the Boca del Guafo and Corcovado Gulf regions. These poorly explored regions connect the Chiloé Inland Sea (CIS) with the open ocean. The CIS is a large basin formed by three main sub-basins that collect the freshwater discharges from several rivers and fjords. The complete CIS can be considered as a large estuarine system. At the continental shelf, just outside the CIS, dissolved oxygen (DO) is rather low, typical values can be less than 2 mL L -1 below 150 m depth. Based on two oceanographic surveys in the Boca del Guafo and Corcovado Gulf regions, we confirmed the presence of low DO values (< 2 mL L-1) below 150 m at Boca del Guafo. These low values of DO are typical along the Chilean coast and they are related to Equatorial Subsurface Water transported southward by the Peru-Chile Undercurrent (PCU). Natural disturbances of the oxycline depth over the continental shelf related, for instance, to strong upwelling events or strengthening of the PCU, may contribute to the decreasing of the subsurface DO in the Boca del Guafo and the Corcovado Gulf regions modifying the water quality in the CIS. These changes may be relevant, therefore, to the intensive aquaculture activities that take place in this region, particularly in the Corcovado Gulf. Nevertheless, subsurface values of DO, as the oxycline and pycnocline, are largely affected by semidiurnal tidal fluctuations. Fig. 2 5 This variability was also confirmed by ocean glider observations carried out in the region. Observations from a cross channel transect in the Corcovado Gulf showed a large contrast between the east and west side of the Gulf. The figure below shows the measurements of temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen made by the glider in the Corcovado Gulf between 5 and 12 November 2011 (left panel, Fig. 2), and its trajectory (right panel, Fig. 2) which was characterized by numerous loops due to the strong tidal currents. Near the surface, a low salinity layer (< 30 psu) was clearly present in the east side of the Gulf. Values of DO in the deeper layer (near 150 m depth) were relatively high > 4 mL L -1 in this transect. Observations carried out with our ocean glider during November 2011 in the Corcovado Gulf were consistent with the cross-gulf features and DO observed in this opportunity were also relatively high in all the water column (i.e. ~4 mL L -1 near 150 m depth). The high frequency disturbances difficult interpretation of short period transects observations. Data from a mooring installed at Corcovado Gulf are being analyzed and a new mooring is planned to be installed in the region during 2013, including DO sensors along with conductivity, temperature sensors and current profiles. To evaluate the role that changes in the PCU may play on the DO variability near the Boca del Guafo, historical data of oxygen was analyzed and related to the southward transport of the PCU obtained from a regional numerical model. Results showed that during the austral winter lower values of DO are observed off Boca del Guafo and they are well correlated with the intensification