Chemical and Biological Oceanographic Conditions on the Scotian Shelf and in the Eastern Gulf of Maine during 2022

Chemical and biological oceanographic conditions observed in the Maritimes Region in 2022 are presented. Surface and deep inventories of nitrate and silicate were near or above normal in the eastern part of the region while the surface and deep phosphate inventories remained near or below normal across the region. Inventories of in situ chlorophyll-a have indicated important spatial and temporal variability across the region apart from the Bay of Fundy where below normal levels have been observed since 2014. Abnormally high surface chlorophyll-a concentrations measured by remote sensing were observed during winter 2022. Observations in recent years suggest earlier and longer spring phytoplankton blooms with higher-than-normal amplitude and magnitude. Diatom abundance has remained lower than normal in the Bay of Fundy while reaching near-normal levels on the central Scotian Shelf in the last two years. The overall zooplankton biomass and the abundance of Calanus finmarchicus and Arctic Calanus species remained mainly below normal levels in 2022. Observations from the Continuous Plankton Recorder confirm the main regional trends observed in phyto- and zooplankton abundances.…

Publisher

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Resources

17

Catalogue metadata updated

2026-03-24