A Winter Oceanography Project in Collaboration with the Cree Nation of Chisasibi, Eastern James Bay

It's finally winter here in southeast Hudson Bay/James Bay and the ice is thick enough to travel along the coast, so it was high time to get out of the office and into the field!

As part of our partnership with the Arctic Eider Society's Community-Driven Research Network and with support from ArcticNet, the first stop for field work this winter (January 2017) was Chisasibi in Eastern James Bay. This is our second year working on a Cree Nation of Chisasibi-funded project to understand ice and ocean processes in the Eastern James Bay coastal domain. Specifically, we are studying how river water from La Grand complex and other large rivers discharging into James Bay modify ocean and ice conditions and ultimately coastal ecological processes. Understanding this oceanography is a step to better understanding declines in eelgrass habitats, which were once abundant on this coast. They provided an important stopover point for geese as well as rich hunting and fishing grounds for the coastal Cree but have declined in recent decades.

To study the winter oceanography in this region, we have been measuring snow and ice thicknesses, collecting water samples and installing moorings to collect information on currents, water temperature, salinity and water clarity, among other indicators. We're particularly proud of a satellite-linked mooring we have set up just north of town that is feeding us real-time salinity and temperature data at three depths under the ice. You can follow along and see what we're up to using the Arctic Eider Society's IK-MAP.

The mooring site is indicated by the anchor symbol, centred on your screen. On the left panel, you will see green boxes listing the three sensors (IN-SITU TROLL 100 CT). Click the box and you can see the real-time data for salinity and temperature.

Many thanks to staff at CEOS (in particular Michelle Kamula and Emme Wiley) for making the preparations for this field work, and to the Cree Nation of Chisasibi, in particular George Lameboy and our community research partners John Lameboy and Jimmy Snowboy, for their help this past week and indeed over the last two years, as the partnership developed.

Next stop, Kuujjuaraapik! Our Inuit partners there have been watching the ice and doing CTD casts and are ready for a week of intensive work to look at the coastal domain in that region. Let’s hope the weather holds!