Jacques A. Gagné

Properties of unstable waves in the lower St Lawrence Estuary

A two part hay bale carrier of simplified economical construction is formed by a wheel unit and a handle member. The wheel unit comprises a pair of wheels journaled by respective ends of an axle which rigidly supports normally upright tines intermediate its ends which are inverted and manually inserted into an end corner surface of a rectangular bale. The bale and wheel unit is then righted. The handle member comprises a pair of parallel tines joined at one end in U-shaped fashion by a bight portion which projects outward of the opposite end of the bale after the hand member tines are longitudinally inserted into the bale end opposite the wheel unit enabling an operator to substantially balance the mass of the hay bale on the wheel unit and move the bale in two-wheel dolly fashion across the surface of the earth.

Saguenay fjord entrance whale feeding ground: Acoustic study of sill dynamics and tidal aggregation of forage fish

The Saguenay fjord entrance in the St. Lawrence Estuary at Tadoussac is a world famous site where beluga and minke whales can be regularly observed from the coast. Strong tidal upwelling over the shallow sill of the fjord controls the exchanges with the St. Lawrence. In May 2005, an intensive oceanographic and acoustic survey was conducted to understand how the complex 3D hydrodynamics may contribute to concentrating whale preys. High time‐space resolution acoustics (38 and 120 kHz split‐beam), ADCP (acoustic Doppler current profilers), CTD profiles, plankton and micronekton sampling were used to track the 3D movements of water masses, zooplankton and forage fish. During flood, the dense cold waters that jump over the sill block the Saguenay outflow and subduct into the fjord with their fish and zooplankton content. This complex 3D circulation generates fronts and convergence zones where biomass is concentrating until current reversal occurs during ebb. These concentrations are then advected and dispersed...