Research Document - 2009/014
Physical Oceanographic Conditions in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 2008
By P.S. Galbraith, R.G. Pettipas, J. Chassé, D. Gilbert, P. Larouche, B. Pettigrew, A. Gosselin, L. Devine and C. Lafleur
Abstract
An overview of physical oceanographic conditions in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 2008 is presented. Air temperatures were close to normal when averaged from January to March, contributing to an ice cover volume that was also close to the climatological mean. Air temperatures were in general either normal or above normal for the remainder of the year. The monthly averaged freshwater runoff measured at Québec City was normal overall in 2008, but consisted of above-average runoff in summer compensated later by lower runoff in the fall. The high summer runoff contributed to higher-than-normal stratification. Near-surface water temperatures were generally above normal throughout the Gulf for the months of May, July and November and were also above-normal on the Magdalen Shallows in June and in the northern Gulf from August to October. In August the northern parts of the Gulf saw positive anomalies while the southern parts experienced negative anomalies. This lead to the unusual occurrence that the waters around Prince Edward Island and in Northumberland Strait had higher temperature in July than in August 2008. On the Magdalen Shallows, a large area of the bottom was covered by water with temperatures < 0°C in September 2008, similar to the cold period observed in the 1990s and in contrast to conditions in September 2005, 2006 and 2007 when such cold waters were not observed. Maximum sea-ice volume within the Gulf and on the Scotian Shelf was 81 km³, a value now considered about normal using updated ice volume estimates for 1971-2000. Ice first appeared early in the season and stayed later than normal (later by about 8 days later on the Magdalen Shallows). Winter inflow of cold and saline water from the Labrador Shelf occupied the Mécatina Trough from top to bottom in winter 2008. The spread of the intrusion was confined a bit closer to the coast compared to 2007 conditions, leading to an overall smaller volume of 1850 km³, which is similar to 2001 and 2006 observations. The winter cold mixed layer volume was 13 700 km³, a value higher than the 1996–2008 average by 0.8 SD, and corresponded to 41% of the total water volume of the Gulf. The summer CIL (cold intermediate layer) index for 2008 was -0.70°C, comparable to the very cold conditions observed in 2003 and a large decrease (by 0.47°C) from the previous summer. Regional patterns of the August and September CIL show that the layers for T < 1°C and < 0°C were much thicker in most parts of the Gulf in 2008 than in 2007 and had a generally lower core temperature throughout the Gulf. In the Northern Gulf, the area covered by water of low temperature (from < -1°C through < 1°C) increased in August 2008 relative to August 2007. Temperatures in the water column in June 2008 were characterized by a very thick and cold CIL in most regions except the Estuary and by warm deep waters in the Estuary and the northwest Gulf. This overall pattern persisted in the August–September mean conditions. By October and into November, CIL conditions were still thick and cold, while waters above the CIL were anomalously warm. Overall, temperature and salinity were generally normal from 150 m to 300 m, with the exception of slightly lower than normal (by 0.6 SD) temperature at 150 m. Temperature and salinity in this depth range decreased for a second consecutive year. The near-normal Gulf-wide water temperatures at 300 m were composed of warmer waters in the Estuary, near-normal temperatures in the northwest and central, and colder waters flowing into the Gulf at Cabot Strait.
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