ANNUAL REPORT 2002

 

NATIONAL GOOS ACTIVITIES

 

1. COUNTRY Canada

 

2. PRINCIPAL NATIONAL CONTACT FOR GOOS

 

Doug Bancroft

Director, Oceanography & Climate Branch

Oceans and Aquaculture Science Directorate

Department of Fisheries and Oceans

200  Kent, Ottawa

K1A 0E6

tel./tél. 613-990-0302 fax 613-993-7665

bancroftd@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

 

3. MECHANISM FOR NATIONAL COORDINATION OF GOOS

 

Within Canada, the responsibility for the planning and implementation of ocean observing systems rests primarily with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO).  Collaborations are established with other departments and agencies to include those variables for which the responsibility falls outside DFO. Within this framework, ocean monitoring programs have been developed for the oceans off both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and to a lesser extent for the Arctic.  An example is the Canadian AZMP (Atlantic Zone Monitoring Programme).

 

4. MEMBERSHIP OF AND CONTRIBUTION TO REGIONAL GOOS BODIES

 

Glen Harrison, (DFO), is the Co-chair for the ICES-IOC Steering Group for GOOS.  The 2nd meeting of this group was held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada in June 2002 and was attended by a number of Canadian scientists.

 

John Cullen (Dalhousie University) and Keith Thompson (Dalhousie University) are members of COOP.

 

Savi Narayanan (DFO) serves as an invited expert on data management to COOP.

 

5. NATIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO GOOS IMPLEMENTATION

 

Canada is an active participant in GOOS and GCOS through provision of oceanographic observations including sea surface temperature, sea level, temperature and salinity profiles, energy and carbon flux data.  These observations adhere to the GCOS/GOOS climate monitoring principles and other relevant best practices wherever possible.

 

See Appendix A for a list of on-going and planned contributions. Highlights for 2002 are documented below. Canada has made strategic contributions to GOOS implementation, including major contributions to Project Argo in both the northern and southern oceans, the establishment of Arctic tide gauges.

5.1  CONTRIBUTIONS TO ELEMENTS OF THE GOOS INITIAL OBSERVING SYSTEM

 

Tide gauges in the Canadian North under GLOSS

 

Observations to detect changes in Arctic Ocean sea level cannot be addressed by satellites since altimeter technology is not suited to determining the topography of the sea surface in the presence of sea ice.  The Canadian Government has launched a program to deploy tide gauges in the Arctic as part of Canada’s climate change Action Plan (AP 2000).  The Arctic Tide Gauge Program is one of several oceanographic monitoring activities developed under the broader AP 2000 initiative dealing with Climate Science.  The program funding consists of $1.4M over four FYs starting in 2001/02, and includes using GPS to measure any change in the elevation of the coastline that could counteract or add to changes in sea level. In summer 2002 two stations were installed in the Arctic, at Alert and Holman, and both are now reporting GPS and tidal information daily.  Data is also being received from a third site, Nain.  Installations are planned for Broughton Island (Qikitarjuak) and Tuktoyaktuk in summer 2003.

 

5.2 CONTRIBUTIONS TO GOOS PILOT PROJECTS

 

The Argo float programme

 

At the end of 2002, Canada was tracking 61 Canadian floats: 38 deployed in the

North Pacific, 16 in the North Atlantic, 1 in the Indian Ocean and 6 in the Antarctic. Canada’s initial contribution will total 68 floats.

 

Canadian floats report through the Service ARGOS communications system and the resulting data is routed to MEDS, the Marine Environmental Data Service in Ottawa, Ontario.  The data is received every 6 hours, processed automatically and subjected to automated data quality control, then transmitted on the GTS and posted for international access on the WWW within 24 hours. 

 

Bob Keeley of MEDS is co-chair of the international Argo Data Management Team

 

5.3   CONTRIBUTIONS TO GOOS-RELATED RESEARCH

 

The Canadian CLIVAR Research Network brings together university and government scientists with the following objectives:

·        To clarify the physical mechanisms responsible for natural climate variability on time scales ranging from a season to a century.

·        To determine the extent to which this variability is predictable.

·        To develop tools to predict that variability when feasible.

·        To develop and apply tools to distinguish natural from anthropogenic contributions in observed and predicted global warming.

The Network's research parallels the structure of the International Climate Variability Research Program, a component of the World Climate Research Program, in that it has three central themes focusing on three timescales: the seasonal to interannual time scale, the decadal to inter-decadal timescale, and the century timescale.

On the seasonal to interannual time scale the focus is placed on developing tools for seasonal forecasting. On the decadal to inter-decadal time scale the work concentrates on understanding the dynamics of the main modes of atmospheric and oceanic variability through observational and modelling studies. On the century time scale the emphasis is placed on improving techniques for the detection of climate change, and on developing new tools to assess the relative importance of natural variability and anthropogenic factors in the observed climate change. (www.clivar.ca)

 

Howard Freeland (DFO) is on the Pacific Panel of CLIVAR.  Daniel Wright (DFO) is the Atlantic Panel member of CLIVAR.

 

MEDS will be one of the DACs (Data Assembly Centres) of CLIVAR.

 

Allan Cembella (Natural Resources Canada) is a member of the Scientific Steering Committee for IOC-SCOR GEOHAB.

 

Jennifer Martin (DFO) is a member of IPHAB.

 

5.4  OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GOOS (OR RELEVANT TO GOOS)

 

DFO (Mike Foreman, IOS) is undertaking a multi-year project to combine Argo float and altimeter data with existing data sets (CTDs, XBTs, winds, surface fluxes of heat and fresh water) in the North Pacific, and use ocean models and data assimilation techniques to hindcast seasonal and interannual variability in the upper mixed layer and deep thermocline over the past 44 years.

 

6.      CAPACITY BUILDING IN SUPPORT OF GOOS, OR GOOS-RELATED RESEARCH

 

Dalhousie University, in collaboration with partners from government and the private sector, is establishing a Centre for Marine Environmental Prediction (CMEP), to provide a multi-institutional focus for innovative interdisciplinary research and education on the observation and prediction of physical, chemical and biological changes in the marine environment. The Centre for Marine Environmental Prediction will:

·        Develop new technologies for observation, prediction and visualization.

·        Test the new technologies in the real world.

·        Transfer technology.

·        Train highly qualified personnel.

·        Educate the public.

This first major CMEP initiative is a $3.6 million infrastructure project.  The Marine Environmental Prediction System (MEPS) consists of three components:

·        Relocatable instrument systems deployed in the field;

·        Communication systems that bring observations from many sources to an analysis centre in real-time; and

·        Modeling, analysis and software systems to transform the observations into visualizations and predictions accessible to a broad range of users.

http://www.phys.ocean.dal.ca/programs/cmep/CMEP.htm

 

MEDS and CMEP will collaborate in the management and dissemination of the data collected under CMEP.

 

7. IMPEDIMENTS TO PROGRESS

 

Availability of funds and difficulty of securing long-term funds for monitoring.

 

8. INDICATIONS OF FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTION TO GOOS

 

8.1 INVESTMENT IN NATIONAL ACTIVITIES

 

Canada has recently invested $1M for Argo floats; $1.4M for operation of Argo program; $1.4 M to implement the Arctic tide gauges network. 

 

8.2 INVESTMENT IN NATIONAL COORDINATION

 

In 2002, DFO undertook a survey of ocean monitoring programs performed by various government departments and agencies in Canada, with a view to creating a vision of an integrated Canadian ocean observing system.  The survey demonstrated that very few monitoring programs have secure long-term funding, which will be required for data continuity.  It also showed that monitoring in the Arctic is minimal and could be vastly improved. The final report from this survey recommends that a business case be developed for a coherent end-to-end program of ocean monitoring, data management, analysis, operational oceanographic modeling, and delivery of products and services.

 

Efforts are underway to ensure existing monitoring programs acquire more secure funding, and funds that are available are directed to programs that are cost effective and most valuable to the scientific community.

 

8.3 INVESTMENT (REAL OR POTENTIAL) IN INTERNATIONAL COORDINATION

 

Canada contributes to the Argo Information Center.  MEDS provides international access to oceanographic data.

Appendix A – Summary of Operational and Planned GOOS Participation

 

Status

Yes      On-going                                                                           

P            Planned/Potential

U         Under Discussion                               

C            Contributor

N         None

 

Observations                Status               Comments

 

Surface Drifter              Yes      13 active, 7 GTS 10/03/01      

                                                13            2           3/20/02

                                                17            3           8/12/02

           

                                               

Ice drifters – Ice surface T, motion and weather                                   

            P            16 annually – 3 TOGA WSD, 10 SVPB and 3 SVPBW

 

Wave                           Yes      23 wave buoys operating off East & West coasts         

 

Mooring                    Yes            13 west coast, 7 east coast offshore: Wind, waves, AP, AT, SST reported via the GTS. Some optical sensors (insolation, water color, sal, fluorescence) have been added to some moorings.           

 

P            Labsea and Canadian Archipelago direct transport obs

Beaufort Sea moored station and Hydro survey annually

 

XCTD/XBT/TSG            Yes            Most Canadian XBT/CTD data (Navy, Ocean/Fisheries

Research) submitted to the GTS in non-real time. No SOOP XBT lines operated. Some broadcast mode data are submitted to GTS as  TESACs.

 

Argo/Palace             Yes            61 active January 2003.  (38 North Pacific, 16 North Atlantic, 1 Indian Ocean, 6 Antarctic)

 

P            Fund 95 FY 2003-2005.

 

Sea Level                   Yes            7 operating GLOSS stations. Reporting well: 5 FAST, 2 DM. 3 overlap modes.           

                                               

               P            Enhance the network with 11 geocentrically positioned stations.  Arctic installations at Broughton Island (Qikitarjuak) and Tuktoyaktuk are planned for summer 2003.

 

TS Hydrography            Yes            Line P and PAPA, BRAVO

            Completed June 1999, May 2000, May 2001 and June 2002

 

P Pac and Atl trans-ocean every 8 years. 21 Pac and Atl coastal and near seas sections and 8 stations, some seasonal, others annual.

 

Bio/Chem                  Yes            Carbon measurements: A01(AR7W) to 2003, annual since 1990. Line Z (Pacific) every 2 years likely. PR6, 3 times/yr, approved. P01, one off. VOS-Line P, Vancouver-Australia and Vancouver-Tokyo (Wong)

 

Satellite                     Yes            RADARSAT-1  (11/95 to present): SAR-Ice www.space.gc.ca/csa_sectors/earth_environment/radarsat 

                                  

                                   P           RADARSAT-2, launch 2004

 

Sea Ice                       P            Concentration and extent, Labsea, Arctic, Gulf of St Laurence

 

VOS                          Yes            About 200 now but will be reduced to about 70 Automated.  VOSCLIM Participant.

 

ASAP/WRAP           No           

 

Coastal                      Yes            AZMP:12 sections and 6 fixed hydro stations; 8 water level stations.

                                                                                   

 

Projects/Products

 

RNODC for Drifters

 

GTSPP Center (XBT, TSG, Argo Floats)

 

Affiliations

 

DBCP

 

SHAFOS