OCEANOGRAPHIC CONDITIONS IN THE MELVILLE BAY-CAREY ISLANDS 

 REGION, NORTHERN BAFFIN BAY, 17 SEPTEMBER^2 OCTOBER 1%9 



by 

 ROBIN D. MUENCH ^ 



INTRODUCTION 



An oceanographic survey was carried out from 

 the CGC WESTWIND in the Melville Bay-Carey 

 Islands region of northern Baffin Bay from 

 17 September-2 October 1969 (figs. 1 and 2). This 

 survey was carried out imder the auspices of the 

 Baffin Bay-North Water Project, coordinated by 

 tlie Arctic Institute of North America and cooper- 

 ative among groups from the University of Wash- 

 ington, the United States Coast Guard, McGill 

 University and Dartmouth College. 



The oceanography of northern Baffin Bay has 

 been discussed by Muench (1971). The 1969 sur- 

 vey was designed to investigate this region by 

 continuing, to the southeast, the detailed survey 

 carried out farther north in 1968 (Muench, et al., 

 1971). The placement of current meters, designed 

 to be retrieved the following summer, in Smith 

 Somid was an attempt to obtain winter current 

 data. 



SAMPLING PROGRAM 



On 17 September 1969 the scientific field party 

 boarded the CGC WESTWIND at Thule, Green- 

 land. These personnel included Robin D. Muench, 

 Jerry A. Gait, Rick Avis and Joseph Karpen, all 

 from the University of Washington, and Gordon 

 Tidmarsh from McGill University. The CGC 

 WESTWIND was commanded by Capt. J. S. 

 Thuma, United States Coast Guard. 



Two Geodyne Model 850 recording current 

 meters were moored in north central Smith Sound 

 (78°30.6'N, 73°51.0'W) on 20 September. This 

 array was designed to be retrieved by means of 

 an acoustic release during summer 1970. Two 

 recording current meters were moored later on the 

 same date at each of the indicated locations south 



1 University of Washington. Present address : Institute of 

 Marine Science, University of Alaska, College, Alaska 99701. 



of Cape York (fig. 1) and were retrieved on 

 2 October. 



On 21-25 September, stations 1^8 and OOA-OOD 

 were occupied, after which foul weather dictated 

 a retreat into Thule. A loss of LORAN coverage 

 necessitated determining the positions of stations 

 OOA-OOD by dead reckoning, so that the positions 

 of these stations are considered less reliable than 

 those of other station.s. Stations 49-90 were occu- 

 pied on 27 September-2 October. 



DATA ANALYSIS 



The oceanographic data were obtained using a 

 Bissett-Berman Model 9060 self-contained salin- 

 ity/temperature/depth recording unit (STD). 

 The instrument was used as supplied directly from 

 the factory, where it had been calibrated. It had 

 been intended to place two Nansen bottles on every 

 cast to check temperatures, salinities and depths 

 from the STD, but lack of a shipboard salinometer 

 precluded this. Twenty samples were obtained, 

 using Nansen bottles, for calibration purposes. The 

 temjjeratiires were read using reversing thermom- 

 eters, and samples were returned to the University 

 of Washington for salinity determination. 



The advertised accuracy and resolution, in that 

 order, of the STD were : 



Salinity: ±0.057oo and ±0.027oo 



Temperature: ±0.05°C and ±0.05°C 

 Depth: ±0.25% full scale and 



±0.10% half scale 



The STD used (serial number 5418) had a tend- 

 ency to record salinities 0.05 to 0.10%o too high at 

 depths between 500 and 1000 m, the error increas- 

 ing with depth. Shallower than 500 m, the salinity 

 accuracy was within the advertised specifications. 

 No errors were detected in temperature or depth 

 I'eadings. 



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