OCEANOGRAPHIC FEATURES OF HECATE STRAIT AND QUEEN-CHARLOTTE-SOUND IN SUMMER

We present evidence of previously unresolved oceanographic features in Queen Charlotte Sound and Hecate Strait using data collected in the s ummer of 1990 and interpreted using a three-dimensional, finite-elemen t diagnostic numerical model for two separate simulations: baroclinic flow without wind-forcing and barotropic flow with wind-forcing. Featu res include a strong, prevailing southward flow along the east coast o f Moresby and Kunghit Islands, clockwise circulation around the edge o f Middle Bank and a cold-water plume flowing from the shallows at the north end of Aristazabal Island toward the south and through the troug h between Middle Bank and Goose Island Bank. A persistent (near-surfac e) outflow into the Pacific Ocean is found near the surface within 20 km of Cape St. James at the southern tip of the Queen Charlotte Island s and intermittent surface outflows are observed across the mouth of Q ueen Charlotte Sound. In central Hecate Strait, to the north of Middle Bank prevailing along-strait currents are weak and there is an east-w est interleaving of two water masses: warm water from the west side of the strait and cold water from the east side.