Coastal Circulation and Physical Oceanography of the Scotian Shelf and the Gulf of Maine

Abstract

Correlations between annual catch of coastal commercial species of fish and the environmental factors of sea temperatures and St. Lawrence River discharge have led to an investigation of the relationship between the latter. Examining year-to-year variability of monthly means, effects of the St. Lawrence River discharge can be traced by correlation analysis with sea temperatures to propagate from the Gulf of St. Lawrence onto the Scotian Shelf and through the Gulf of Maine at known coastal current drift speeds. Seasonal salinity and transport data support such a flow at least to a section off Halifax on the Scotian Shelf. Within the Gulf of Maine seasonal salinities do not support continuity of flow; however, possible reasons and mechanisms for this are discussed. Other factors such as local river runoff in the Gulf of Maine, Labrador Current, and large-scale weather systems are briefly considered and discussed. It is proposed that the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Maine inclusive be considered as an oceanographic system and events occurring in the southern part on time scales of a month or more are not independent of more northerly events. It is not interpreted that the river discharge is the driving force of such an oceanographic system but rather influences the water properties within the source region of the flow, i.e. the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Some biological implications of the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Gulf of Maine pathway are pointed out.