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We
have been involved in basic oceanographic and sea ice research since
1977.
 This
involvement initially consisted largely of:
- Deployment
and recovery of conventional field oceanographic equipment.
- Acquisition
and analysis of remote sensing data.
- Data
processing.
- Analysis
and interpretation directed at deriving quantitative descriptions
and understandings of ocean environments and phenomena.
Specific
early work in connection with offshore development in the Beaufort
Sea, the channels of the Arctic Archipelago and in northern Baffin
Bay made significant contributions to the environmental databases
in these areas. In addition, understandings of observed phenomena
continue to be relevant to present day polar oceanographic and ice
research.
Sea
Ice and Iceberg Studies
Specific
examples of these efforts include:
- The ubiquitous
linear lead fracture patterns first identified in the Beaufort
Sea (Marko and Thompson, 1977).
- The identification
of the existence and the ecological and climatic significance
of inter-annual variations in the positions and durations of seasonal
flat ice edges in major channels of the Arctic Archipelago (Lancaster,
Smith and Jones Sounds).
- Detailed
documentation of the intrusive looping of the Baffin Current into
the eastern entrances of continental-shelf-cutting channels (i.e.Lancaster
Sound) and submarine canyons (Fissel et al., 1981).
 The
latter studies were combined with data on annual sea ice clearance
and growth cycles and on iceberg trajectories (Marko
et al. 1981)
to identify, for the first time, the sources of observed large inter-
and intra-annual vairations in the numbers of icebergs reaching
Labrador and Newfoundland (Marko et. al. 1994). These basic results
were incorporated into simple sea ice models to provide quantitative
pictures of the evolution of sea ice and iceberg conditions off
eastern Canada (Marko, 1996; Marko et al., 1997) which are directly
relevant to issues of climate change and basic ice mechanics.
Permafrost
Studies
ASL
has undertaken several projects involving studies of permafrost
distribution and thickness.
These
studies provide data which are used in climate change models and
as input to geotechnical engineering work for pipeline construction.
Acoustic
Oceanographic Instruments
Trawl
Resistant Bottom Mounting
and Recovery System |
During
the course of these research programs, we became increasingly involved
in the design and construction of acoustic
oceanographic instrumentation. Initially
such instrumentation was largely directed at passive recording of
oceanic noise to measure environmental parameters such as wind speed
and to detect and characterize break-up in an Arctic sea ice cover.
Thus, passive band-averaged 'WOTAN' data provided unique data relevant
to Atlantic storm studies and broad band data recovered from instruments
placed under the spring ice cover of Lancaster Sound obtained what
is perhaps, to date, the most informative database on the acoustic
environment of a disintegrating Arctic ice pack.
Custom
Instrumentation
These
efforts gradually evolved into custom instrument development services
offered to government and private sector clients with interests
in the measurement of oceanographic parameters (current velocities,
wave spectra and water depths) and fishery and biological monitoring.
To date, three instrument technologies have been commercialized
and put into production based upon, respectively, an acoustic scintillation
flow measurement (ASFM) concept and upward-looking
echo soundings of ice undersurfaces (Ice
Profiler) and a related wave measurement instrument (Wave
Profiler). An additional backscatter measurement instrument
(Water Column Profiler) is now at
the commercial stage.
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