Peter Chandler

Area of Expertise:

Peter Chandler is a physical oceanographer in the Ocean Sciences Division at the Institute of Ocean Sciences. He plans and supervises DFO’s British Columbia Shore Station Oceanographic Program with responsibility for the operation and development of the long- term monitoring of sea surface temperature and salinity at 14 stations on the west coast of Canada, six of which are in the Salish Sea. This program includes the analysis and interpretation of temperature and salinity data, the maintenance of the monitoring instruments and the coordination of lighthouse keepers who make the observations.

Since 1999, a series of 75 stations, extending from the mouth of Juan de Fuca Strait to the northern end of the Strait of Georgia, are monitored four times each year; (1) low winter discharge (December), (2) early freshet (April), (3) peak freshet (June), and (4) end of freshet period (September). Peter’s role as Chief Scientist is to coordinate the work of the 6 – 8 member science crew in the collection of the fundamental water properties data including temperature, salinity, oxygen, chlorophyll and nutrients, as well as cruise specific data such as pH, HPLC, DIC and alkalinity or biological sampling using vertical and horizontal net tows.

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