Canada's Three Oceans (C3O)

The Canada¿s Three Ocean¿s project is designed to take a snapshot of all three of the oceans surrounding Canada in 2007 and 2008. In doing this, we will evaluate the connections among the Arctic, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, provide a baseline of biological, chemical and physical measurements of the ocean environment and leave a legacy that can be used as the basis for long term monitoring of our oceans. In 2008, following the success of the 2007 season, two Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers left their home ports on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts carrying scientists who observed the environment around them by measuring a wide range of properties, from the numbers and type of seabirds, to the plankton in the water, the nutrients in the seawater to the physical and chemical properties of seawater that tell the story of the water¿s current movement and past history. By the time they crossed paths in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, 14000km of ocean from Victoria to Halifax through the Northwest Passage had been observed in one season. Researchers from government and universities, students at all levels from high school and up, writers, photographers, and technicians both experienced and in training participated in this project. Once home from sea they have been analysing, processing and plotting their results which together with the results from 2007 give two single season snapshots of Canada¿s surrounding oceans.

加拿大三洋科考项目（Canada’s Three Oceans Project）旨在于2007年与2008年对加拿大周边三大洋开展一次全域快照式调查。通过此项工作，本项目将评估北冰洋、太平洋与大西洋之间的水体连通性，构建海洋环境的生物、化学与物理参数基准基线，并留存可供长期海洋监测作为参考依据的宝贵科考遗产。2008年，在2007年科考季取得圆满成功后，两艘加拿大海岸警卫队破冰船分别从大西洋沿岸与太平洋沿岸的母港启航，搭载科研人员对周边海域开展环境观测：科考团队测量了多项环境参数，涵盖海鸟的数量与种类、水体中的浮游生物、海水中的营养盐含量，以及能够揭示洋流当前运动轨迹与历史演化过程的海水物理与化学特性。当两艘破冰船在加拿大北极群岛海域会师时，本单季科考已完成了从维多利亚港经西北航道至哈利法克斯港、总长14000公里的海洋区域调查。来自政府机构与高校的科研人员、高中及以上各级在校学生、撰稿人、摄影师，以及在职与受训中的技术人员均参与了本项目。返航后，科考团队对采集数据开展分析、处理与绘图工作，结合2007年的调查结果，最终形成了两份单年度的加拿大周边三大洋全域快照式数据集。