Positions: 1 PhD and 1 M.Sc.
Location: University of Victoria, BC, Canada
General Description: The survival of juvenile fish, and therefore the abundance of fish
year-classes, depends on prey availability during early development. Prey abundance in
turn is related to abundance of phytoplankton, which in the Strait of Georgia, BC,
Canada, reaches its maximum during the spring bloom. Therefore, a relationship has been
hypothesized between the timing of the spring bloom and abundance of different species
of salmon. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has observed this relationship
through analysis of yearly juvenile Pacific salmon surveys in British Columbia coastal
waters. Given the large area and the complex waters of the Strait, the present schedule of
DFO cruises may not be effective in capturing the spatial and temporal scale of blooms
for the purposes of fisheries management. The general goal of the project is to develop an
operational method to retrieve accurate water surface chlorophyll distribution from ocean
colour satellite imagery as a tool to aid in defining the fish stocks status and the
environmental factors that may affect them. This is an interdisciplinary project that
combines expertise in fisheries management, remote sensing and water optics, biological
and physical oceanography. It is part of a 3-years funded project in British Columbia in
collaboration between UVic, UBC, DFO-PBS/ IOS and the private sector.
The graduate students will work on (i) in situ sampling for quantification of optical
variability of the Strait; (ii) improve standard atmospheric calibration models for ocean
colour sensors SeaWiFS, MODIS, and MERIS; (iii) development, calibration, and
validation of satellite reflectance-based models to derive chlorophyll maps; (iv)
quantification of the timing of initiation, duration, amplitude, and spatial distribution of
phytoplankton blooms.
Qualifications: A M.Sc. or an undergraduate degree in science, and a keen interest in
environmental monitoring, methods development, remote sensing, and field and
laboratory bases studies. Oral and written English at academic level is required. We
particular welcome applications from individuals who can demonstrate experience with
water optical modeling, ocean colour remote sensing. Positions start in January and
September 2011.
Contacts:
Maycira Costa (maycira@office.geog.uvic.ca)