In the Field
Explore our work in the field, the instruments use, and why collecting these measurements is important.
Have a look through the gallery to explore some of the work we get to do in the field, the cool instruments we get to use, and why collecting these measurements is important.
Here, Inuit Research Coordinator Almuni Sydney Dicker is setting out a temperature logger. Temperature loggers are devices we use to measure water temperature over a period of time.
The Inuit Research Coordinators tied data loggers to rocks and submerged them in 2 creeks around Nain. The loggers help us recognize changes in water temperature through each season.
Recording the temperature of rivers is important for understanding ecosystem processes, fish habitat, seasonal changes, and the formation of river ice.
Months later, Inuit Research Coordinators John Winters and Caroline Nochasak returned to the same rivers to collect the temperature loggers.
Here, John Winters and Caroline Nochasak show us one of the temperature loggers currently out in the field. They tied orange tape to it so we can find it easily next season.
Data from each logger was collected through Bluetooth, then the HOBO app immediately created graphs for us to see! One thing we noticed is that one river was warmer than the other in the summertime, but both of them are close to freezing now. One river cooled down faster than the other.
Here, Inuit Research Coordinator Alumni Sydney Dicker measures oxygen, chlorophyll, dissolved organic matter, and turbidity with a RBRconcerto³ CTD instrument.
These measurements are taken in order to track changes to salinity and temperature in the coastal inlets of Nunatsiavut to better understand how coastal ocean conditions shift with climate change. These measurements compliment rich Inuit Knowledge, and aid in ensuring the long-term productivity of fish species in the area. Here we also have Oceans North Legend Joe Webb supporting our fieldwork.
In partnership with Oceans North and local expert Joey Angnatok, we deployed an autonomous ocean glider and a number of surface ocean drifters, just off the coast north of Nain. This team also included Ephraim Merkeratsuk of the What’s Happening (pictured here) & Sid Pain of Ocean’s North.
Drifters and gliders measured temperature and salinity over depth and longitude and were tracked along the continental shelf of Atlantic Canada. These data are used to identify both temporal and spatial changes in ocean conditions.
Inuit Research Coordinators John Winters and Katrina Anthony, and NG Researcher Liz Pijogge participated in the William Kenndey cruise. This cruise was run by the University of New Brunswick.
During the William Kennedy Cruise, plankton and water samples were collected and sampled for nutrient contents. Additional ocean drifters were also deployed and used for mapping ocean currents.
Terrance Scott and Nathan Jacque examine the CTD cast data on the tablet.
These images are co-owned by the Nunatsiavut Government and Ocean Networks Canada, an initiative of the University of Victoria, who are working in partnership to support community-based ocean research initiatives. This project collaborated with the Sustainable Nunatsiavut Futures project through the Ocean Frontier Institute
Terrance Scott (T'Sou-ke First Nations Ocean Networks Canada Youth Science Ambassador) and Elizabeth Tuglavina (Nunatsiavut Government) lower the CTD overboard while Luci Marshall observes.
These images are co-owned by the Nunatsiavut Government and Ocean Networks Canada, an initiative of the University of Victoria, who are working in partnership to support community-based ocean research initiatives. This project collaborated with the Sustainable Nunatsiavut Futures project through the Ocean Frontier Institute.
This 2023 on-ice field season, Emmanuelle Cook and John Winters took under-ice noise measurements near Hopedale and Postville.
During the 2023 ice field season, the team measured sea ice and snow thicknesses, sea water temperature and salinity, and marine biogeochemical variables along a series of bays and fjords near each the four communities we are working in.
Dalhousie PhD student Eleanor Barry finally takes the novel IceShark instrument to the waters of Nain for her project. Here she is seen deploying it with the help of Inuit Research Coordinator Katrina Anthony at a site along Nain Bay. Locations were identified as important hunting and travel grounds through community meetings and are paired with seasonally collected CTD data.
The IceShark, was created to collect both phyto- and zooplankton samples underneath the ice, along the coastal Nunatsiavut region.
It’s been fitted with a pump at one end which pulls water through the interior of the Shark when submerged under the ice. This water is thrust through a mesh net (a very fine mesh to collect the smaller phytoplankton and a slightly larger mesh for the zooplankton) which will filter the samples into a cod-end bottle.
Inuit Research Coordinator Jacqueline Winters setting up a trail cam to see what other species are on the islands that the birds lay on.
The face behind Birds Eye Inc (Birds eye Inc Drone Service Provider) Eldred Allen and one of the drones used for the bird research in Rigolet.
Seabirds captured by drone service provider Birds Eye Inc. Can you spot the double-crested cormorants (shags),great black-backed gulls (saddlers) and common eiders?
Dalhousie University is located in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq. We are all Treaty people.
We acknowledge that the lands on which Memorial University’s campuses are situated are in the traditional territories of diverse Indigenous groups, and we acknowledge with respect the diverse histories and cultures of the Beothuk, Mi’kmaq, Innu, and Inuit of this province.
