Water transport through Hecate Strait, British Columbia

Abstract

Abstract The transport of water through Hecate Strait, British Columbia, is investigated to determine seasonal cycles and to find optimal surrogate series from which a long time series of along‐strait transport can be inferred and applied to fisheries and pollution problems. It is believed that the strength of a year‐class of cod in this Strait varies inversely with the transport in winter. Therefore, a good surrogate series is required, one that extends back in time to compare with fisheries records and will continue into the future to determine fluctuations in the population of these species. Current meters deployed for an 11‐month period in 1983–84 provide transport measurements. Subsurface pressure gauges were deployed at 10‐m depth at five sites around Hecate Strait for a two‐year period in 1982–84. The cross‐strait difference of pressures determined by two of these gauges (Beauchemin Channel and Atli Inlet) serves as the best transport indicator, with an average correlation coefficient r of 0.88. Lo...