CHAPTER 3 



CONCLUSIONS 



Some of the relevant atmospheric forcing fields affecting 

 the surface environment in New York Bight were exam- 

 ined for February through August 1976, the period before 

 and during the oxygen-depletion event. The same kinds 

 of physical conditions in the historical record were com- 

 pared to identify possible similarities. 



Three salient points relating to atmospheric conditions 

 emerged. First, sea-surface temperatures throughout the 

 Bight were relatively high early in the year when compared 

 with the record for the past 100 years, but there were 

 other similar occurrences in the record. Also, February 

 and March air temperatures over the northeast were near 

 their warmest levels in the past century. The usually warm 

 temperatures may have aided in the early development 

 and subsequent strengthening of stratification of Bight 

 waters. Second, the monthly surface wind patterns showed 

 persistent south to southwesterly flow during the entire 

 period, blowing with above-normal constancy during May 

 and June. Steady wind conditions could have had a pro- 

 nounced effect on Bight circulation and exchange proc- 

 esses. The general atmospheric circulation patterns over 

 eastern North America departed considerably from the 

 norm during the February through June months. This re- 

 sulted in a minimum of storm activity over the Bight, and 

 presumably less mixing of the water column, compared 

 with the record for the past 25 years. And third, vertical 

 motion calculations using both open-ocean and coastal 

 upwelling estimates indicate that upwelling/onwelling may 

 have been prevalent during most of the analysis period. 



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 



This work was sponsored by NOAA's Environmental 

 Data and Information Service through its National Cli- 

 matic Center, Asheville, N.C. Special thanks are given to 

 Vernell Woldu, for her valuable assistance, and to N. 

 Lawrence Nicodemus, Nathaniel Guttman, Richard Whit- 

 ing, and the staff of the Applied Climatology Branch. 



List of Symbols 

 7 = Wind stress vector, units of dynes/cm- 



p = Mean density of air, units of grams/cm' (g/cm') 



p^ = Water density, units of grams/cm^ (g/cm') 



/ = Coriolis parameter, units of seconds ' (s ') 



P =The change of / with latitude, units of 



cm 's ' 

 T^ = East-west component of wind stress (positive 



eastward), units of dynes/cm" 



W 



V 







Mix) 



mi 



= North-south component of wind stress (positive 



northward), units of dynes/cm" 

 = Vertical motion through the bottom of surface 



Ekman layer, units of mm/day 

 = Nondimensional drag coefficient 

 = Wind velocity vector, units of cm/s 

 = Mean vector wind, units of m/s 

 = Mean scalar wind, units of m/s 



= Ekman mass transport in the east-west direc- 

 tion, units of metric tons/second/kilometer 

 (t/s/km) 



= Ekman mass tran^)ort in the north-south di- 

 rection, units of metric tons/second/kilometer 

 (t/s/km) 



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