The Atlantic Zone Off-Shelf Monitoring Program (AZOMP) collects and analyzes physical, chemical, and biological oceanographic observations from the continental slope and deep basins of the Northwest Atlantic, with the overarching goal of monitoring variability in ocean climate and plankton affecting ecosystems off Atlantic Canada and climate systems at both regional and global scales.
Annual measurements in the Labrador Sea began in 1990 as a contribution to the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) and have evolved into a multidisciplinary regional monitoring effort and part of the Global Ocean Ship-based Hydrographic Investigations Program (GO-SHIP).
AZOMP's sampling scheme off Atlantic Canada and the Labrador Sea involves annual sampling of both the Atlantic Repeat 7-West (AR7W) line, a 880 km-line running across the Labrador Sea from Labrador to Greenland coast and extended Halifax Line, deep-water stations over the Scotian Slope and Rise located at the end of AZMP’s Halifax Line. Opportunistic sampling also may occur at stations in the Strait of Belle Ilse, station 27, Labrador Shelf, and OSNAP West line in support of ancillary research programs and initiatives. In addition XBTs and Argo floats are commonly deployed and vessel-mounted ADCP is used to determine water masses structures at a smaller scale. Deep-water oceanographic moorings are also deployed in the Labrador Sea, mostly in the Hamilton Bank region and OSNAP West Line and on the Scotian Slope. Time series data is used for comparison with the numerical model transport estimates of the Nova Scotia and the Labrador Current.
The data collected are synthesized into annual reports on the physical, chemical and biological changes in Atlantic Canadian waters and the Labrador Sea. One primary focus is on changes in the intensity of winter overturning of surface and intermediate-depth waters resulting in deep water mass formation and is part of the thermohaline circulation that affects the global climate. Convection also transfers atmospheric gases from the surface to intermediate depths, reducing the rate of increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere but increasing the acidity of the ocean.
