Cold Estuaries Workshop – Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

The overarching objectives of the workshop were to understand the relative contributions of climate change versus hydroelectric regulation to freshwater-marine coupling in Hudson Bay. Goals of the meeting were to:

1. Summarize our existing knowledge of freshwater-marine coupling in Hudson Bay.
2. Identify key gaps in our knowledge of these processes.
3. Design a collaborative, multidisciplinary, large-scale field experiment using a combination of the Amundsen, field camps, and moorings (targeted for 2013-14) to address these key gaps.
4. Design a mooring program to support the field work in 2013-14.
5. Design an observatory that would support MB hydro’s monitoring interests beyond the end of ArcticNet.
6. Investigate how models can help compliment the observational programs of this collaboration.

Talks presented at the meeting followed one of four themes: physical oceanography, biological system, freshwater system, and climate system. The 13 invited talks covered all four of these thematic areas. Following these talks, a summary of salient points was compiled to address the following:

1. What are the key gaps in our understanding within each theme?
2. Design a collaborative field program to address these gaps. There are three elements to the proposed program: Amundsen, field camps, moorings.
3. What do we perceive as key elements to an ongoing monitoring program that would allow for continued monitoring of this system beyond the lifespan of ArcticNet?

Some general research priorities identified are (but not limited to):

1. Gradient sampling (onshore-offshore)
   • high resolution
   • cross-shelf
2. Focus of Churchill/Nelson rivers due to Manitoba Hydro collaboration
   • desire for high temporal sampling
   • need to sample contrasting rivers (i.e. Winisk, Seal, Chesterfield)
3. Polynyas
   • (1) Nelson River; (2) NW Hudson Bay (function differently).
   • would be nice to put moorings in them
4. Large-scale transects of interest
   • of interest from biological perspective
   • i.e. Hudson Strait – Foxe Basin – down into the Bay
   • 28 days would be needed, 42 would be great
5. Mass exchange between central and coastal areas
   • reduced frequency

The thematic areas, the knowledge generated to date, the gaps identified and the upcoming field programs will form the central core of the ArcticNet IRIS-3 document which will focus around the natural science of freshwater-marine coupling in Hudson Bay. This document will begin to take shape after the workshop and will evolve through our next major field push with completion in 2015/16.

Oral Presentations

Ocean system (Marcel Babin & Matthew Asplin)

Ocean system (Breakout Group)

Numerical Modeling of Estuaries (Marie-Hélène Briand)

Fresh-water (Stephen Déry)

Fresh-water System (Stephen Déry & Greg McCullough)

Oceanography of the Hudson Bay (Igor A. Dmitrenko)

Hudson Bay Modeling (Dany Dumont)

Marine Mammals (Steve Ferguson)

Sea Ice in Hudson Bay (Klaus P. Hochheim)

The Carbon Cycle in Hudson Bay: Overview and Gaps (Zou Zou Kuzyk)

Hudson Bay Optics (Pierre Larouche)

Conawapa Generating Station: Nelson River Physical Environment (Lorrain)

Sediments, CDOM and Nutrient Flow in the Nelson-Hayes Estuary (Greg McCullough)

A Monstrous Blot on a Swampy Spot (Scott Stephen)

Primary Production in the Hudson Bay: an Overview (Jean-Éric Tremblay et al.)

Contaminants in Hudson Bay and Estuaries (Fei Wang et al.)

Poster Presentations

Recent Fluctuations and Trends in Streamflow across Northern Canada: Insights from the IPY (Stephen J. Déry et al.)

Three DimensionalL Modeling of Nelson River Estuary (A. Dorostkar et al.)

Environmental Control of Summer Primary Production in the Hudson Bay System: The Role of Stratification (Joannie Ferland et al.)

Absorbance and Fluorescence of Dissolved Organic Matter in Nelson River Estuary, Hudson Bay (C. Guéguen et al.)

Contaminant Export through Estuaries: Mercury Behaviour in Hudson Bay (Alex Hare et al.)

Spatial Variability in Organic Material Sinking Export in the Hudson Bay System, Canada, during Fall (Amandine Lapoussière et al.)

Channel Morphology and Hydraulics of East Channel within Kittigazuit Bay, Mackenzie Delta, NW Territories (D.A. Lobb et al.)

Modeling Future Sea-Ice Conditions in Hudson Bay (Simon St-Onge Drouin and Simon Senneville)

Spatial and Seasonal Variability of Absorption Properties and Water Color Parameters in Hudson Bay (Hongyan Xi et al.)