Millar Channel

Millar Channel is located around Flores Island in Clayoquot Sound, off of the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Colombia, Canada. Flores Islands is home to the Ahousaht Nation, which are part of the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations. The main industries around the Millar Channel area include fishing, helicopter logging, and tourism. Flores Island can only be reached by water-taxi or sea-plane.

Atmospheric Conditions taken from Tofino Airport on September 11th-12th, 2015.

Nitrate (NO3): See image carousel above or images below.

It can be observed that nitrate levels increase as depth increases, meaning that there is more nitrate available near the bottom of Millar Channel. The highest concentrations seem to be along the north and east sides of Millar Channel (stations 73,75,81,39,33). This availability of nitrate shows that phytoplankton at the surface have not yet bloomed.

Phosphate (PO4): See image carousel above or images below.

Phosphate was found to be more limited than nitrate, but follows the same trend, for as depth increases, so do phosphate concentrations.

Silicate (Si(OH)4): See images carousel above or images below.

Silicate is an important nutrient to a group of phytoplankton called diatoms. Diatoms use silicate to form their shells, which they need in order to survive. Silicate concentrations also follow the previous trend, for as depth increases, silicate levels also increase.

Millar Channel essentially has two separate sections separated by a large sill that acts as a barrier for some incoming water. in 2015, it was seen that the water temperature within Millar Channel remains highly stratified, but with colder water being more concentrated on the ocean side of Millar Channel. It was also observed that although there is some more fresh water at the surface around stations 63-33, the water bellow ~5 meters becomes very saline.

Similar to salinity, the density is lowest at the surface where the water is the freshest, and density increases with depth as salinity increases. Next, the levels of dissolved oxygen are displayed to have the highest concentration of dissolved oxygen to be right at the surface due to the atmosphere and surface water being in contact with each other. Anoxic conditions begin at a depth of ~70 meters and bellow.

Fluorescence is a value that tells us about the presence of bioluminescent phytoplankton which were only found at station 39. Transmissivity is lowest near the surface, as well as near the bottom of the channel, which may hint towards some disturbance of ground sediments.

Page created by Gibson French