Tofino Inlet is located on the Southern edge of Clayoquot Sound off the West Coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia which is a glacially formed fjord. The inlet has two heads, Tranquil and Tofino, but this course covers the properties of Tofino. Adjacent to the inlet is the city of Tofino, which is the location of the only road access to the sound and is a hotspot for tourists and recreation. Tofino inlet has a few aquaculture farms but is mostly a source for recreational fishing.

Tofino inlet is 38,892 meters long with a mean width of 1,389 meters. The maximum depth of the inlet is 150 meters and has a shallow glacial sill that is 12 meters deep. This sill works against the mixing and flushing of the inlet and hypoxic and anoxic zones result. Tofino has three main freshwater sources that feed the inlet, Tofino Creek, Tranquil Creek, and Kennedy River.

Figure 7 shows how temperature increases over the course of the day with the peak indicating a time period where the sun came out. Pressure steadily increased in the morning then when the temperature started to rise faster the pressure started to level out and start decreasing (fig.8).

Figure 10 shows wind speed increasing over course of the day because as it tends to be calm in morning, as the sun comes out the fog burns off and heats up the land faster than the sound. Then as the land at the head of the inlet heats up (faster than the water), heat rises off the surface of the land and leaves behind empty space so air from further down the inlet can rush in and fill the gap from rising hot air.

Concentrations of Nitrate in surface, chlorophyll maximum, and bottom waters in Tofino Inlet.

Concentrations of Phosphate in bottom, chlorophyll maximum, and surface waters in Tofino Inlet.

Concentrations of Silicate in bottom, chlorophyll maximum, and surface waters in Tofino Inlet.

Nitrate concentration is important to obtain because it is a key nutrient for phytoplankton which are the primary producers for this ecosystem. We would expect to see nutrient concentrations to be higher at depth than in surface waters in general. This is because they are depleted by phytoplankton at the surface and deeper waters is where particles rain down and accumulate. For nitrate, at the surface there is a higher concentration at the mouth of inlet probably due to phytoplankton consuming nutrient further in the inlet. At the chlorophyll maximum we would expect to see low concentrations as phytoplankton consumption would lower nutrient levels, but we do not have comparisons for further out toward sea. Station 53 has higher concentrations of nitrate at surface, cmax, and bottoms waters which could be because of proximity to the freshwater source bringing in nutrients from the watershed.

Phosphate is another important nutrient as it is needed for phytoplankton cells. Phosphate is lower at the surface and increases with depth. The pattern from the head to the mouth of the inlet seems to be decreasing with higher concentrations near land.

Lastly, silicate is essential for diatoms since their bodies are silica based to protect them from predators. Again, concentrations seem to be increasing from surface waters to bottom waters. These patterns make sense since phytoplankton tend to live at about 10 meters below the water surface and they use up the silicate for their body building materials.

Temperature, salinity, and density are closely related. The temperature in Tofino inlet shows a colder front towards the head of the inlet and being vertically homogeneous while a warm mass is moving in. The salinity follows this trend and shows higher salinity in the outer part of the inlet where the warmer water is. Lastly, density is high where the salt concentrations are higher so there is warmer, saltier, and denser water sinking from about station 56 inland and less dense water at the surface where freshwater is being put into the inlet. Overall we can see warm, high salinity water coming in from the ocean which is indicative of coastal waters being warmed by "the Blob" at this time and bringing in an intrusion of warmer, saltier, and denser water from the coast.

Fluorescence, transmissivity, and dissolved oxygen also have a close relationship. A high level of fluorescence found at about 10 meters in depth between stations 46 and 51 indicate a high phytoplankton presence. Transmissivity in the same region show the lowest percentage because of that mass of phytoplankton being observed by the transmission of the beam. Lastly, dissolved oxygen has a large concentration in that same mass of observed fluorescence as phytoplankton are photosynthesizing organisms and therefore produce oxygen as a byproduct. We notice that low oxygen is at the head of inlet pushed in and up by the intrusion of "the Blob". If we had sampled this inlet a week earlier the waters would probably have been anoxic at the bottom but warm, salty, dense water came in and pushed the anoxic water up.

Page Developed By MaggieJo Baer