Passive surface drifter data in the bay of Sept-Îles in 2017-2018

Lagrangian drift data were gathered in the Bay of Sept-Îles during the Spring and Summer in 2017 and 2018, as part of the Canadian Healthy Oceans Network (CHONe II) program. The drifters were deployed from shore and from two local fishing vessels: the Monica and Yvan-Raymond. The drifters consisted of a Spot Trace GPS emitter fixed on a wooden circular base 30 cm in diameter with a 0.9 kg weight attached to the opposite side to ensure that the emitter stays above water. Positions were recorded every 10 minutes. Data remaining persistently at low depth (<2 m) and low speed (<5 cm s-1) were considered shoaled and removed. A purpose-built graphical user interface program was used to remove GPS points on land or on the boat, and separate the GPS traces of each device into continuous movements (uninterrupted by shoaling). Positions were linearly interpolated to a 10 minute grid after quality control.