PRJNA725221
Metagenomes from the Bedford Basin and the Scotian shelf Metagenome
The Bedford Basin forms the inner portion of the Halifax Harbour. Freshwater is supplied from both the Sackville River and additional runoff from the watershed. The Basin is connected to the Atlantic Ocean through a channel which is 10 km long, 400 m wide and 20 m deep (Li and Dickie 2001). Since 1992, the Bedford Institute of Oceanography (BIO) has carried out weekly monitoring at the Compass Buoy station, located at the deepest point of the basin (71 m); water samples are collected at depths of 1, 5, 10 and 60 metres.Similarly, the Atlantic Zone Monitoring Program (AZMP) program that was implemented in 1998, aims to collect and analyze the biological, chemical and physical field data from the continental slope and the deep waters of the northwestern Atlantic Ocean.The broad goals of both these programs can be described as follows:- To characterize and understand the causes of oceanic variability at the seasonal, inter-annual and decadal scales- To provide multidisciplinary data sets that can be used to establish relationships among the biological, chemical and physical variables- To provide adequate data to support the sound development of ocean activitiesIn cooperation with BIO and Doug Wallace (CERC.OCEAN), we are examining the microbial communities of the Bedford Basin and the Scotian shelf utilizing techniques such as flow cytometry, microscopy, and genetic analyses. The metagenomes submitted in this project have been sequenced from samples collected from these monitoring programs.