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1999 to 2020 surface temperature and salinity measured along the track of commercial ships, mostly between Montreal (Quebec) and St. John's (Newfoundland). Monitoring of surface water conditions in the Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence is carried out with different complementary methods such as thermosalinographs (TSG) installed on commercial ships. These ships are sailing all year long from Montreal to St. John’s, one round trip per week, and are sampling water near the surface (3 to 8 meters deep) to determine the temperature and salinity all along the route. Purpose

The recorded data are used as input to numerical forecasting models for sea ice conditions and as a monitoring tool for the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Gridded temperature and salinity of the Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence bottom waters including shallow waters. Data are a result of a 3D interpolation on a 1km x 1km x bottom depth grid. They mostly come from the 2 multidisciplinary surveys but all the available CTD data sampled in August and September were used. The dataset contains 24 layers: one layer per year per variable from 2011 to 2020, two layers of temperature and salinity climatologies and two layers of 2020 anomalies.

This dataset contains the surface temperature and salinity data of the enlarged coastal thermograph network of the St. Lawrence river, estuary and gulf system. It includes data from the Canadian Hydrographic Service water level network (SINECO), the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO)-Quebec long-termed thermograph monitoring program network and the oceanographic buoy network. Each station is linked with a .png file showing the temperature and salinity time series and with a .csv file containing the surface temperature and salinity data themselves (columns : Station,Latitude,Longitude,Date(UTC),Depth/Profondeur(m),Temperature/Température(ºC),Salinity/Salinité(psu)). Supplemental Information

A detailed description of the networks (SINECO, oceanographic buoys and the DFO-Quebec thermograph monitoring program) is available at the St. Lawrence Global Observatory (SLGO) portal :

SINECO : https://ogsl.ca/en/tide-gauges-dfo-chs/

Oceanographic buoys : https://ogsl.ca/en/marine-conditions-buoys-dfo/

Thermographs: https://ogsl.ca/en/marine-conditions-thermographs-dfo/

Technical Reports related to the Thermograph Network (the last one is also available at the same hypertext link mentionned above) :

Pettigrew, B., Gilbert, D. and Desmarais R. 2016.

A geospatial database involving 130 descriptors was created describing the pelagic and benthic habitats of the 0–30 m surface layer in the estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence. A grid made of 6.25 km² cells (2.5 x 2.5 km) was used to aggregate the data. Each of the 39,337 cells overlapping the marine environment was characterized using landscape, hydrographic, and oceanographic parameters determined from observations (including satellite imagery), a 3D circulation model, and published and unpublished material available at local and regional scales. Purpose

The dataset provides useful information on the spatial extent of major coastal epipelagic habitats in the study area and can be used for mapping purposes and for analyses of species-habitat relationships.

Bottom salinity time series at the 3 fixed stations and 46 stations, grouped into transects, of the Atlantic Zonal Monitoring Program (AZMP) under the Quebec region responsibility. The mean bottom salinity of the last ten years are displayed as 2 layers, one for the June survey (2011-2019, 2020 not sampled), another for the autumn survey (2011-2020). A third layer shows the positions of the fixed stations of the program (Anticosti Gyre, Gaspé Current and Rimouski). Each station is linked with a .png file showing the bottom salinity time series and with a .csv file containing all the bottom salinity data acquired at those stations since the beginning of the program sampling (columns : Station,Latitude,Longitude,Date(UTC),Sounding(m),Depth/Profondeur(m),Salinity/Salinité).

Mean 2011 to 2020 summer surface conditions in the Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence. Data come from the August and the September multidisciplinary surveys. Surface conditions are described by temperature, salinity and nutrient concentration (mmol/m³) interpolated on a 10 km x 10 km grid. Purpose

Since 1990, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has been conducting an annual multidisciplinary survey in the Estuary and northern Gulf of St. Lawrence using a standardized protocol.

Mean 2012 to 2021 winter surface conditions in the Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence. The survey has been taking place every year in March. Surface conditions are described by temperature, salinity and nutrient concentration (mmol/m3) interpolated on a 10km x 10km grid. Purpose

Since many years, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has been conducting annual surveys, at different periods of the year, in the Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence, each having many objectives including assessment of environmental conditions.

Spatial distribution of the relative occurrence of Spotted Wolffish in the annual DFO groundfish research surveys conducted by the Québec (1978-2008) and Gulf (1971-2008) regions. Catch and effort data were aggregated by 100 km² cells. The probability of catching an Spotted Wolffish in a set and within a cell (relative occurrence) was calculated as the ratio of the number of sets in which a species was recorded and the total number of sets made. This method allows the mapping of catch and effort for numerous time series based on data from different programs in both the whole study area (research surveys and Sentinel Fisheries using bottom trawls and a random stratified design) or in specific areas within the Gulf.

Spatial distribution of the relative occurrence of Atlantic Wolffish in the annual DFO groundfish research surveys conducted by the Québec (1978-2008) and Gulf (1971-2008) regions. Catch and effort data were aggregated by 100 km² cells. The probability of catching an Atlantic Wolffish in a set and within a cell (relative occurrence) was calculated as the ratio of the number of sets in which a species was recorded and the total number of sets made. This method allows the mapping of catch and effort for numerous time series based on data from different programs in both the whole study area (research surveys and Sentinel Fisheries using bottom trawls and a random stratified design) or in specific areas within the Gulf.

Spatial distribution of the relative occurrence of northern wolffish in the annual DFO groundfish research surveys conducted by the Québec (1978-2008) and Gulf (1971-2008) regions. Catch and effort data were aggregated by 100 km² cells. The probability of catching an northern wolffish in a set and within a cell (relative occurrence) was calculated as the ratio of the number of sets in which a species was recorded and the total number of sets made. This method allows the mapping of catch and effort for numerous time series based on data from different programs in both the whole study area (research surveys and Sentinel Fisheries using bottom trawls and a random stratified design) or in specific areas within the Gulf.