Canadian Arctic Tide Measurement Techniques and Results

• Main Authors: Tait, B. J., Grant, S. T., St.-Jacques, D., Stephenson, F.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The International Hydrographic Review 2015
• Subjects: Arctic; Canadian Arctic Archipelago; Arctic Archipelago
• Online Access: https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/ihr/article/view/23426

About 10 years ago the Canadian Hydrographic Service recognized the need for a planned approach to completing tide and current surveys of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago in order to meet the requirements of marine shipping and construction industries as well as the needs of environmental studies related to resource development. Therefore, a program of tidal surveys was begun which has resulted in a data base of tidal records covering most of the Archipelago. In this paper the problems faced by tidal surveyors and others working in the harsh Arctic environment are described and the variety of equipment and techniques developed for short, medium and long-term deployments are reported. The tidal characteristics throughout the Archipelago, determined primarily from these surveys, are briefly summarized. It was also recognized that there would be a need for real time tidal data by engineers, surveyors and mariners. Since the existing permanent tide gauges in the Arctic do not have this capability, a project was started in the early 1980’s to develop and construct a new permanent gauging system. The first of these gauges was constructed during the summer of 1985 and is described.