The Fraser River freshet is starting (snow pack melt in the coastal mountains), and the suspended sediment loads coming out of the river mouth into the Strait of Georgia are also increasing. This is especially evident at our Fraser Delta site, located just south of the mouth of the Fraser River. In these data plots we can see that at low tide, when the river runs fastest, there is a spike in the near bottom turbidity at our Fraser Delta site, associated with the cascade of suspended sediment, as evidenced in the 200 kHz ZAP echogram. During this first week of May (2012), the low tides have been occurring late in the day (16:00-17:00 PDT, 23:00-24:00 UTC), and we have seen a steady increase in the near bottom turbidity signal just after low tide. 

Media Contact

Leslie Elliott, Ocean Networks Canada Communications and Marketing Manager

elliottl@uvic.ca | 250.472.5357