page_title: Ocean Networks Canada
section_title: Folger Passage
hierarchical_section_title: Ocean Networks Canada / Study sites / Northeast Pacific / Folger Passage
caption_attribution_description: English: 2013 map of Ocean Networks Canada installations at Folger Passage in Barkley Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island. This site is part of the NEPTUNE observatory in the northeast Pacific.
context_page_description: Ocean Networks Canada is a University of Victoria initiative that operates the NEPTUNE and VENUS cabled ocean observatories in the northeast Pacific Ocean and the Salish Sea. Additionally, Ocean Networks Canada operates smaller community-based observatories offshore from Cambridge Bay, Nunavut., Campbell River, Kitamaat Village and Digby Island. These observatories collect data on physical, chemical, biological, and geological aspects of the ocean over long time periods. As with other ocean observatories such as ESONET, Ocean Observatories Initiative, MACHO and DONET, scientific instruments connected to Ocean Networks Canada are operated remotely and provide continuous streams of freely available data to researchers and the public. Over 200 gigabytes of data are collected every day.
  The VENUS Observatory is situated at three main sites in the Salish Sea, including Saanich Inlet, the eastern and central Strait of Georgia, and the Fraser River delta.
  The NEPTUNE observatory is situated off the west coast of Vancouver Island in Barkley Sound, along the Cascadia subduction zone, on the Cascadia Basin abyssal plain, and on the Endeavour segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge.
context_section_description: Folger Passage is located at the mouth of Barkley Sound, offshore Vancouver Island near Bamfield, British Columbia. The seafloor composition includes cobble, gravel, soft sandy sediment, and carbonate-rich detritus. Two instrument platforms, Folger Deep (100 m) and Folger Pinnacle (23 m), are installed at Folger Passage. Folger Deep is situated on soft sediment at the mouth of an inlet channel while the Folger Pinnacle platform is secured to the top of a rocky reef within a rockfish conservation area.
  This coastal zone is ideal for studies of land-ocean interactions and coastal physical oceanography. Estuarine circulation from Barkley Sound is influenced by the shelf dynamics of an eastern boundary current, creating a complex physical environment. Surface outflow drives a deep water inflow which is strongly influenced by upwelling and downwelling conditions on the nearby continental shelf. The nutrient-rich, terrestrial freshwater discharge and the nutrient-rich, cool, salty upwelled water support a diverse and abundant ecosystem
  Folger Pinnacle, located atop a shallow reef, has dense mats of sponges, ascidians and encrusting algae. There are numerous types of sessile (bottom attached) organisms including sponges, anemones, bryozoans, tunicates, and barnacles. Since this is a rockfish conservation area, there is a wide variety of rockfish (yellowtail, China, quillback, Puget Sound, black, and blue) in addition to many other fish (kelp greenling, lingcod, flatfish, wolfeels), molluscs (giant Pacific octopus, mussels, swimming scallops, and snails), and echinoderms (seastars, sea cucumbers, and urchins). An echosounder installed at Folger Deep shows evidence of a dense zooplankton community and schools of fish in the water column, while hydrophones regularly record the songs of whales and dolphins in the area.
caption: 2013 map of Ocean Networks Canada installations at Folger Passage in Barkley Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island. This site is part of the NEPTUNE observatory in the northeast Pacific.
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