Beaufort Regional Environmental Assessment (BREA) - Marine Observatories mooring data in the Canadian Arctic

Baseline information on ocean and sea ice characteristics of the Beaufort Sea is essential to understand regional conditions, a key consideration in regulatory decision-making. The Beaufort Regional Environmental Assessment (BREA) is a multi-stakeholder initiative developed to address the needs to understand better potential environmental effects related to exploration drilling in the Beaufort Sea. The Southern and Northeastern Beaufort Sea Marine Observatories were set to support critical goals of the Beaufort Regional Environmental Assessment (BREA). This four-year project led by ArcticNet and IMG-Golder, an Inuit-owned environmental and engineering company based in Inuvik, collected data to gauge the physical conditions and variability of the Canadian Beaufort Sea year over year. More specifically, these data would contribute to ocean circulation model validation, biogeochemical flux and sea-ice information, oil spill trajectory models, and future environmental assessments at the local and regional scales. These observatories were also developed to maintain existing time-series and fill significant data gaps in the northeastern Beaufort Sea. Altogether, the derived information is expected to help researchers to build previously unavailable scientific evidence of oceanic and sea ice conditions, enabling regulators to make informed decisions about potential environmental effects of exploration drilling in the Beaufort Sea. BREA is supported by the Environment Studies Research Fund (ESRF), Imperial Oil Resources Ventures Limited, the Program on Energy Research and Development (PERD), and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO). The iBO project is maintained via collaboration among ArcticNet, Amundsen Science, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and Golder Associates. The Canadian Coast Guard has provided at-sea support using the icebreakers CCGS Amundsen and CCGS Sir Wilfrid Laurier.