Hydrodynamics over the northwest Atlantic Ocean

The Northwest Atlantic Ocean (NWA) and its adjoining eastern Canadian shelf (ECS) are socially and economically very important to Canada. These regions support shipping and transportation, commercial and recreational fisheries, offshore oil and gas exploration and production, marine recreation and tourism, aquaculture, and other economic activities. Physically, these regions lie in the western boundary confluence zone of two large-scale gyre systems: the North Atlantic subpolar gyre and North Atlantic subtropical gyre. The ECS is the most variable area of the North Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The circulation and associated temporal and spatial variability of these regions are influenced by many forcing functions including atmospheric forcing, tides and interactions of three large-scale currents: the Labrador Current, the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic Current. These regions are also affected occasionally by extreme weather events such as tropical cyclones and winter storms. The physical conditions (ie, currents, stratification, surface waves and sea ice) over the regions are expected to have substantial changes due to global climate change.

The long-term objectives of this proposal are to (i) model and predict marine environmental conditions and associated variability over the NWA and ECS and (ii) identify main processes affecting temporal and spatial variability in marine environmental conditions over these regions based on numerical simulations and available observations. The short-term objectives of the proposal are: (a) to develop an advanced ocean modelling system for simulating three-dimensional circulation, surface waves, and sea ice and some biogeochemical variables such as dissolved oxygen over these regions; (b) to quantify dynamic interactions between currents, surface waves, and sea ice during extreme weather conditions; (c) to quantify impacts of climate change on the physical conditions in the NWA and ECS; and (d) to examine the effect of physical environmental conditions on the migration and distributions of marine animals such Atlantic salmon and sturgeon. The proposed research will significantly advance our knowledge of marine conditions over the NWA and ECS and be very useful to the broad science community.

Research with an advanced modelling system will significantly improve our ability in predicting marine environmental conditions, which is very important for an effective ecosystem management of natural resources over the NWA and ECS. The research results will inform decision makers about effects of climate change and other environmental stresses over these regions. The proposed research will make significant contributions to the training of highly qualified personnel in cutting-edge research of modelling and prediction of marine environmental conditions, which is crucial for Canada's ability to compete internationally in this field.