Backgrounder - 2016 Arctic Survey

Backgrounder

During the 2016 Arctic Survey, bathymetric and geophysical data about the shape and composition of the seabed will be collected to help define the outer limits of Canada’s continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean.

The 2016 survey is intended to be the final survey in the Arctic Ocean in support of Canada’s continental shelf submission. The next step is to analyze the data and draft the submission, which may be ready to file with the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in 2018.

The CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent will rendezvous with the Swedish icebreaker Oden off Svalbard, Norway, on August 9, and the two vessels will then make their way to the ice edge to begin scientific data collection, which will focus on a number of priority areas in the Arctic Ocean, including the Amundsen Basin, Lomonosov Ridge, Makarov Basin and Alpha Ridge (see map below).

 

In addition to scientists from the Geological Survey of Canada and the Canadian Hydrographic Service, also on board the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent during the Arctic Survey will be a “teacher at sea” from the Students on Ice Foundation, who will write about shipboard activities and share expedition-related content via social media, as well as conduct media interviews and prepare presentations.

Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance Expedition

During the Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance expedition, Canadian scientists will be joined onboard CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent by scientific personnel from the University of New Hampshire’s Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping/Joint Hydrographic Center and Memorial University of Newfoundland, who will conduct a bathymetric survey of the North Atlantic Ocean. This work will build on the survey completed in July 2015.

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