Our permanent installations on the observatories include core oceanographic sensors for monitoring seawater properties. The most important oceanographic properties include:
- seawater temperature
- salinity (the amount of dissolved salts)
- pressure (a measure of the weight of water above the sensor)
- seawater density (a function of temperature, salinity, and pressure).
At many locations we also measure the amount of dissolved oxygen in the seawater. These seawater properties are measured at regular intervals on a continuous basis and inform us on the state of the ocean. Variations in the seawater properties are caused by many factors including atmospheric heating and cooling, precipitation, and for dissolved oxygen, gas exchange with the atmosphere and biological respiration.
State of the Ocean Plots
Listed below are some standard time series plots generated on a daily basis to reveal the state of the ocean at each site.
- Cambridge Bay State of the Ocean (depth 7 m)
- British Columbia North Coast
- North-East Pacific Ocean
- Barkley Canyon Upper Slope State of the Ocean (depth 400 m)
- Barkley Canyon Mideast Pod 4 State of the Ocean (depth 900 m)
- Cascadia Basin State of the Ocean (depth 2660 m)
- Clayoquot Slope State of the Ocean (depth 1250 m)
- Folger Pinnacle and Folger Deep State of the Ocean (depths 23 and 100 m)
- Salish Sea
- Vancouver Island
- Campbell River State of the Ocean (depth 9m)