Located west of Sidney on Vancouver Island on a 70-acre site, the Institute of Ocean Sciences (IOS) is one of Canada’s largest marine institutes. An important link in Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s nationwide chain of nine major scientific facilities, the institute is the centre for research on coastal waters of BC, the Northeastern Pacific Ocean, the western Canadian Arctic and navigable fresh waters east to the Alberta border.
Research at the institute is focused on two DFO science divisions:
- Canadian Hydrographic Service
- Ocean Science
Through these efforts, IOS has become a major player in efforts to restore and manage coastal ecosystems, and produces more than 20 per cent of Canada’s nautical charts. Studies range from the effects of global warming on marine ecosystems, to contaminants in Arctic ice, tracking ‘red tide’ in shellfish, the nature of oil spills, and even predictions on where and when a tsunami will strike.
The Institute of Ocean Sciences is also home to the
Pacific Geoscience Centre, the main centre in western Canada for monitoring earthquakes.
Rocks, Fossils and Earth History and Plate Tectonics, Earthquakes and Volcanoes.Explorations by Mr.Makuch and grade 7 from Bayside Middle School. Slideshow.
