Canadian Arctic Shelf Exchange Study 2002-2004 Field Expeditions

Two research expeditions, Leg 0 and Legs 1-9, sampled the Southern Beaufort Sea and Amundsen Gulf from September 2002 to August 2004. The Canadian-led program tested a central hypothesis linking atmospheric, oceanic, and hydrologic forcing of sea ice to biogeochemical carbon fluxes on the Mackenzie Shelf. Nine specific research projects covered topics from atmospheric forcing and microbial communities to benthic carbon cycling and coupled bio-physical modeling.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the relationship between sea ice variability and coastal circulation using atmospheric and sea ice forcing data.
• Modeling pelagic food web structure and function with data on nutrients, primary production, and contaminants.
• Investigating benthic carbon cycling processes using measurements of organic and inorganic fluxes.
• Studying millennial-decadal variability in sea ice and carbon fluxes from sediment or ice core proxies.
• Calibrating coupled bio-physical models of carbon flows on the Canadian Arctic Shelf with in-situ temperature, salinity, and biogeochemical measurements.

Strengths

• Data collection spans a significant two-year period from September 2002 to August 2004, covering multiple seasons.
• Expeditions covered a large spatial range from 67N to 76N and 120W to 41W in the Beaufort Sea and Amundsen Gulf.
• Research design was structured around nine specific, interdisciplinary projects providing a multi-faceted view of the shelf system.

Limitations

• Specific column names, row counts, and dataset size are not provided by any source, limiting detailed technical assessment.
• Sources conflict on licensing: datagov lists 'other-license-specified' while nasa_earthdata lists 'None', requiring user verification.
• The most recent platform update date (2026-03 -13) appears to be a placeholder or error, as it is far in the future relative to the study period.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), as listed on datagov.

Collection Method

Field expeditions conducted aboard the CCGS Pierre Radisson (Leg 0) and CCGS Amundsen (Legs 1-9), involving extensive sampling.

Time Range

September 2002 to August 2004

Freshness

2026-03-13 06:20:36.316121 (from datagov, but this date is anomalous)

Geography

Southern Beaufort Sea and Amundsen Gulf coastal shelves, from 67N to 76N and from 120W to 41W.