Science Advisory Report 2009/005
2007 State of the ocean: Chemical and biological Oceanographic conditions in the Gulf of Maine - Bay of Fundy and on the Scotian shelf
Summary
- Winter nutrient levels at Halifax-2 were normal in 2007 while winter levels at Prince-5 were higher than usual.
- Deep nutrient inventories (50-150 m) in spring were low, shelf-wide.
- The summer nutrient inventories and the depth of nutrient depletion at Halifax-2 and Prince-5 in 2007 were among the lowest (deepest) seen since observations began in 1999.
- The spring phytoplankton bloom was at record high levels over the entire Scotian Shelf in April 2007.
- Chlorophyll levels outside of the bloom period have been declining since observations began in 1999.
- Zooplankton biomass and abundance were low in 2007, but there were near-record peaks in zooplankton biomass and C. finmarchicus abundance at Halifax-2.
- Warm-water zooplankton taxa that are usually abundant during summer and fall were less abundant than normal on the Scotian Shelf, and Arctic species made up a larger proportion of the community than normal on the eastern Scotian Shelf.
- At Prince-5, species that are normally dominant were not abundant, and cladocerans were abundant.
- Observations from the Continuous Plankton Recorder indicate that, compared with the historical data record (starting in 1961), current phytoplankton and zooplankton abundances on the Scotian Shelf are close to the long term average.
Accessibility Notice
This document is available in PDF format. If the document is not accessible to you, please contact the Secretariat to obtain another appropriate format, such as regular print, large print, Braille or audio version.
- Date modified: