Oceanography

The Northern Salish Sea

The northern Salish Sea is a region that encompasses prominent coastal inlets and the narrow, well-mixed waterways that make up a significant portion of the Inside Passage route to Alaska. Our ocean observing work is opportunely positioned in this region to track the physical, chemical, and biological responses to seasonal winds, oceanic water flowing in from the passageways opening to the Northeast Pacific, variations in freshwater discharge, and winter outflow winds emanating from the inlets.

Red star indicates Quadra Coastal Observatory. Red and orange dots indicate ocean observation.

Inlets

Inlets and fjords are characteristic features of the British Columbia coastline, and Bute Inlet exemplifies these regions. Cutting into the BC interior, the valleys at the head of Bute Inlet reach up onto the Chilcotin Plateau, allowing cold, dense air to flow down to the inlet during winter. Our work has shown how important this is for the ecosystem, but conditions are evolving. We are dedicated to understanding how conditions are changing and what the implications are, and we use a variety to approaches to achieve this.

Surveys

Like at our Calvert Coastal Observatory, we use small boats to conduct oceanographic surveys in order to collect measurements describing the physical, chemical and biological conditions in these waters.

Buoys

We can’t be on the water making measurements all the time, and conditions can change quickly, so we use buoys to host instruments in order to collect high frequency data.

Wirewalker

We have a special buoy, called a Wirewalker, that allows an instrument package to travel up and down a wire collecting profiles of measurements instead of constant measurements from a fixed depth. This is an exciting way of getting information continuously over a large portion of the water column.

Click to view larger images. An example of the Wirewalker profiling the upper 250 m in Bute Inlet on March 31, 2026. When the winds blow above 3 m/s (6 knots), the platform travels up and down the 250 m wire collected data (shown is ocean temperature). Wave energy is reduced when winds drop below 3 m/s and profiling ceases.

Shore-side Instrumentation

Instrumentation within our flow-through laboratory at the Quadra Coastal Observatory.

Our unique location by the sea allows for us to draw seawater into our facility and measure properties of the surface ocean continuously.

Vessels of Opportunity

The Seaspan Royal heading south down Discovery Passage past Campbell River.

Instrumentation in the engine room on the tug boat Seaspan Royal.

We can only sample the ocean ourselves in a select number of places that are within range of our coastal observatories, and yet we aim to understand how ocean conditions vary broadly along the BC coast. We work with partners who operate ferries and tugs, referred to as vessels of opportunity, to host instrumentation and allow us to collect data that is used to build this broader understanding.