A Machine-Readable File of Sea Depths for the Central Canadian Arctic Archipelago

Abstract

In connection with extensive seal surveys in the central High Arctic in 1980 and 1981, a computer file of depths was built .... Limits of the area covered are: southerly, 71°N in Amundsen Gulf. 73°30'N in M'Clintock Channel, and 73°40'N in Peel Sound; northerly generally 78°10'N; westerly, 120°40'W in Amundsen Gulf, 117°20'W in M'Clure Strait, and 110°W in Hazen Strait; and easterly, 90°40'W in Lancaster Sound, 86°W in Jones Sound, and 88°W in Norwegian Bay .... The file consists of the coordinates of the boundaries between the depth classes of Table 1. Coordinates were taken along each of a set of transects lying on even degrees of longitude, even degrees + 40', and odd degrees + 20'. The file has 2343 lines; each contains: transect number; longitude (degrees and minutes); latitude (degrees, minutes, and tenths of minutes); depth class to the south; depth class to the north. ... Each line in the file is therefore a point on a depth contour between adjacent classes; where the sea-bed is steeply sloping, the two depth classes on a line may not be adjacent, and such a line represents a point on several coincident contours. Depths were taken off standard hydrographic charts, and a good deal of interpretation, interpolation, resolution of inconsistencies, and plain guessing went into placing the coordinates. However, the file is useable for many purposes requiring approximate values for depth. ...