The Master of Science in Oceanography
The master of science requires 30 credits to be validated, 18 of which must be science courses. The other 12 credits are fullfilled by the thesis project which encompasses a thesis report and a defense.
During the first year, I managed to get all my courses credits. I took :
CIVL 541 Environmental Fluid Dynamics (II term)
OCGY 308 Introduction to Physical and Chemical Oceanography (I term)
OCGY 309 Introduction to Biological and Geological Oceanography (II term)
OCGY 501 Seminar in Physical Oceanography (I, II terms)
OCGY 503 Methods in Oceanography (II term)
OCGY 505 Directed Studies : Physical Oceanography of the West Coast (I term)
OCGY 514 Dynamical Oceanography (I, II terms)
I also took ITAL 200 Second Year Italian (I, II terms) because I love Italian and I think it is nice to keep on learning a second language and to do something else than science !!!
As far as my thesis is concerned, I started working "part-time" on it as soon as last September. To find the subject, I talked with the teachers of the department, I chose the one whose research was close to my interests (Susan Allen) and by talking about her projects, we came out with a project for me ! The project will be supported by GLOBEC, the Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics project that involves cooperation of many scientists, from physicists to biologists, including geologists and chemists.
I studied the influence of submarine canyons on the aggregation of zooplankton, especially Barkley Canyon. This canyon is situated on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, off Barkley Sound. In order to study the influence of different factors, such as currents, that can trap the zooplankton, nutrient-rich water brought by enhanced upwelling, separation of the different stages (larval, adults), I went on a cruise at the end of July, as part of a bigger project to gather CTD and zooplankton data and also obtained mooring data. To find the results of my thesis, you can read my GLOBEC page that summarizes the advancement of my research.
