Oceanography data for James Bay from the James Bay Expedition of the R/V William Kennedy 2021-2022

Over three years, 2021-2023, various oceanographic data were collected in James Bay and southern Hudson Bay, Canada, from onboard the research vessel William Kennedy, to help update understanding of the oceanography of the region. The expeditions were led by University of Manitoba researchers (Mundy, Ehn, Kuzyk) and involved collaborators from the Freshwater Institute, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, University of Sherbrooke (QC), L'Universit du Qubec Rimouski (UQAR), and Universit Laval. Funding support was provided by NSERC, Parks Canada, and Oceans North. The Cree Marine Research Needs Working Group chaired by Oceans North provided regional support and advice, and consultations with Chiefs and Councils of coastal communities helped plan the cruise. The research program was multidisciplinary and included sampling in support of physical oceanography, chemical oceanography, biogeochemistry (both organic and inorganic), biological oceanography (primary production), invertebrates and fish, environmentalDNA (eDNA), and sediment geochemistry (box coring). Accomplishments include deployment and recovery of oceanographic moorings for annual periods. The moorings carried sensors for temperature, salinity, and current profiles, and selected moorings carried instruments for measuring ecological properties (light, fluorescence of dissolved organic matter and chlorophyll, pH) and collecting settling particulate matter (i.e., sediment traps). Hydrographic sections were completed that included several hundred conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) casts to profile the water column. Near-continuous measurements of salinity and temperature were obtained from a flow-through system connected to the ships thermosalinograph. The ships zodiacs were used to extend sampling sections towards the coast and various river mouths.An Algae Online Analyser implemented on the flow-through system provided estimates of phytoplankton community abundance. Additionally, several hundred water and sediment samples were obtained and brought back to university labs for analysis.