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Backgrounders

Background and in-depth information on a variety of topics.

Dec 1, 2013

Fin Whales

The fin whale is the second largest animal on Earth, next to the blue whale. Fin whales can be up to 27m long and weigh up to 80,000kg, though fin whales in the Northern Hemisphere are slightly smaller. They can live for 100 years or more. Fin whales live in all oceans, with preference for temperate and polar latitudes. Most fin whales appear to be migratory, spending the spring and summer in feeding in higher latitudes and travelling to lower latitudes. A few non-migratory populations of fin whales exist, such as those in the Gulf of California and the Mediterranean Sea. Fin whales in the northern and southern hemispheres do not spend the same months nearer the equator, and so do not interact. Their colouration is asymmetrical; the left side of their lower jaw is dark while the right...

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fin whales; mysticeti; cetaceans; whales; baleen whales

Dec 1, 2013

Grey Whales

Grey whales grow up to 14.6 m long and can weigh up to 30,000 kg. The light and dark grey patterns on their bodies are unique to each individual. Scientists use these patterns and the spacing of the cartilaginous “knuckles” along their lower spines to identify individuals. Their skin is covered with whale lice and a species of whale barnacle that exists only on grey whales. Grey whale barnacles time their reproduction with the grey whale breeding and calving season, increasing the chances that their larvae will be able to find a whale to land and grow on.

There are two populations of grey whales, one in the Eastern North Pacific Ocean, and a smaller population in the Western North Pacific Ocean (Atlantic grey whales were hunted to extinction in the 18th century)....

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grey whales; whales; cetaceans; mysticeti

Dec 1, 2013

Sei Whales

The sei whale is the fastest swimming cetacean, with a top speed of 55 km/hour. Sei whales can be a maximum of 16m long and 45,000 kg. They live for 50 to 70 years. They inhabit all non-polar oceans, though they prefer mid-latitude, temperate waters. They breed and give birth at lower latitudes in the winter. Their distribution and movement patterns are not well known.

Sei whale populations were severely depleted by commercial whaling in the 20th century, and were targeted most heavily after blue and fin whales became scarcer. Once abundant in British Columbian waters, there have been no reported sightings of sei whales in British Columbia since whaling ended. They are considered endangered by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC...

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mysticeti; sei whales; cetaceans; whales

Dec 1, 2013

Blue Whales

The blue whale is the largest animal known to have lived – larger than any dinosaur or currently living animal. It can grow up to 33 m long (27 m long in the northeast Pacific) and weigh up to 150,000 kg. Despite its large size, the blue whale feeds almost exclusively on krill. Blue whales in the northeast Pacific are thought to spend their summers feeding off the coast of the U.S. and Canada, and their winters in the tropical and subtropical waters off of Mexico and Central America. The presence of mother and calf pairs off the Gulf of California from December to March suggests that blue whales may breed and calve in the winter, though no breeding ground has been identified and their mating habits are not known. Their lifespan is also not known.

...

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mysticeti; blue whales; cetaceans

Dec 1, 2013

Orcas (Killer Whales)

Orcas, also known as killer whales or blackfish, are the largest species of dolphin, growing to a maximum of 9.8 m long and 10,000 kg. They can swim at a maximum speed of 48 kilometres per hour and travel 120-160 km per day. They are a cosmopolitan species, living in all oceans of the world. Orcas are highly social creatures. They are one of few species that are known to exhibit culture, and one of fewer still with different cultural groups inhabiting the same geographic area without interacting with one another. Cultural groups of orcas differ in vocal dialect, social organization, behaviour, prey and hunting tactics. Some groups have not interbred with others for hundreds of thousands of years, and may actually be different species. There are several described ecotypes...

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orca; killer whale; offshore orcas; Bigg's orcas | resident orcas

Nov 15, 2013

Radioactivity from Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant

A Brief Review of Preliminary Studies into the Oceanic Impact of Radionuclides from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant

Drs. Richard Dewey, S. Kim Juniper, Steve Mihaly, Akash Sastri, Ocean Networks Canada

Several inquiries have been made to Ocean Networks Canada with regard to the fate and severity of oceanic contamination from the leakage of radioactive material into the Pacific Ocean as a result of the March 2011 damage to the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FNPP). There are on-going studies and assessments of the impacts on the ocean, primarily by the World Health Organization (1) and the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (Jamstec). New or alternative results will be integrated into this living review document as they become...

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Fukushima | radioactivity | contamination | Tohoku | japan | earthquake | tsunami | nuclear | cesium | ocean currents

Related Stories

Drop, cover, and hold on
Nov 14, 2019

Expedition 2019: Highlights Story Map
Nov 14, 2019

Real-time ocean current data for safe navigation
Oct 25, 2019

Hazards Beneath the Surface
Jun 6, 2018

Be Tsunami Prepared
Mar 27, 2018

Data from Alaska’s Magnitude 7.9 Earthquake and Tsunami
Jan 23, 2018

Real-time radar data spurs international gathering
Jul 26, 2017

Sep 26, 2013

Ocean Properties

Oceanographers and marine scientists measure or observe attributes or properties of the ocean that allow them to interpret water or component or organism behaviour. Although Ocean Networks Canada cannot measure all required parameters, many instruments are available to provide useful data.

This section discusses the properties measured and provides links to the instruments that provide all or part of the information. Not all parameters are measured at all locations, and some locations have more than one instrument that will measure the same feature in different ways.

Bottom Animal Behaviour

Sometimes biologists have to see animals to understand their actions related to abundance, feeding, competition, and mating. Thus, a camera on the seafloor can often reveal...

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ocean properties | animal behaviour | underwater video | conductivity | currents | CTD | adcp | density | depth | pressure | dissolved nitrogen | oxygen | salinity | Temperature | water clarity | zooplankton | ZAP

Related Stories

Underwater cameras: a window to the deep sea
May 8, 2019

The Great Thaw: our melting Arctic must be monitored and Canada should lead the way
May 12, 2017

A Tenth Anniversary Inshore Maintenance Cruise
Jun 1, 2016

Spring Bloom Observed in Ferry Data
Apr 30, 2014

A Year of Arctic Sea Ice
Apr 24, 2014

New Findings Presented at Ocean Sciences 2014
Mar 3, 2014

Coriolis Effect
Sep 26, 2013

Sep 26, 2013

Spectral and Harmonic Analysis

Although humans live in a world dictated by the steady march of time, and that we typically experience events in the time domain, there is an alternate realm in which periodic time series can be analyzed. Apart from the mean and trend, more complex and periodic characteristics of a time series may be revealed by analyzing the frequency content of the data. For ocean sciences, this type of analysis can be divided into two branches: spectral analysis and harmonic analysis. Both have the intent to extract information about the magnitude and relations of the periodicity, or repeated nature of signals in the time series. Recently, more advanced techniques, such as wavelet analysis, have aided some investigations, but they are beyond the scope of this brief explanation.

... Read more

spectral | frequency | spectrogram | amplitude | Hydrophone | harmonic analysis

Related Stories

Do fish talk? An innovative experiment to study fish using sound and imaging
Apr 26, 2017

Listening station to study impact of ship noise on whales
Sep 15, 2015

Magnitude 6.6 Earthquake
Apr 24, 2014

Hydrophone Records Possible Sea Creature Vocalizations
Apr 1, 2014

Nicolai Bailly – Up and Coming Underwater Acoustics Engineer
Aug 15, 2013

Strait of Georgia Hydrophone Array now Live at 170 m
May 3, 2013

icListen Hydrophone Excels in Innovation Centre Tests
Mar 22, 2013

Sep 26, 2013

Time Series

A “time series” is a set of measured values separated by regular, or irregular, intervals in time. An example might be the temperature recorded from a thermistor every minute. The resulting time series, when plotted, will show how the temperature varied over time. The statistics of these variations are often of great interest. If it is a long record (i.e. decades), it might reveal climate variations. Short records might show daily heating and cooling, or the influence of mixing. Intermediate length records might show seasonal variations. Simple statistics might include the mean (average), or trend (slope) of the time series. The mean and trend are the first and second modes of a time series. More advanced analysis, i.e. auto-correlations and ...

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time series | data plots | sampling rates

Related Stories

The extent of habitat compression and hypoxia in Saanich Inlet from the 2016 hypoxia cycle
Oct 28, 2016

A decade of discovery in Saanich Inlet
Feb 28, 2016

Seven Years In Saanich Inlet
Feb 20, 2013

ZAP Data Available in MATLAB 7 and PNG/PDF
Jun 27, 2011

State of the Ocean 2010: A VENUS perspective
Aug 16, 2010

Sep 26, 2013

Coriolis Effect

The Coriolis Effect causes atmospheric and oceanic circulations to veer from linear (straight) trajectories and is due to the rotation of the Earth. The figure below shows the rotating Earth, and what would happen to a projectile that is “launched” from point P (North Pole) towards point A. As the projectile travels, the Earth rotates underneath it, and observers at any location on the Earth would claim that the projectile veered from a straight line.

The Coriolis effect.

From the North Pole, all directions are southward, and the projectile is seen to veer to the right (which is to west). From the...

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Coriolis | winds | currents | geostrophic balance | cyclonic | anti-cyclonic | physical oceanography

Related Stories

Ocean Properties
Sep 26, 2013

Tides
Sep 26, 2013

Measuring Currents
Oct 15, 2012

VENUS CODAR Array Delivers Total Current Vectors
Oct 10, 2012

Methane Flux in Barkley Canyon
Aug 27, 2012

Animated Radial Current Vectors
Feb 13, 2012

Using Sound to Visualize Currents
Feb 3, 2012

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