Paper 1 



center south of Ireland^ extended froti Italy to the Great Lakes. 



N25ig.rpb££. - The western North Atlantic was rough sailing this 

 month. The major storm tracks ran from near Cape Hatteras to 

 east of Cape Race and toward Iceland^ or else recurved into the 

 Labrador Sea. Surface pressure patterns were more intense than 

 normal. The two centers of the Icelandic low were displaced 

 sout hw es twa r d/ while the Azores high was shifted northeastward. 



There were fewer/' but larger than normal/ Pacific storms/ 

 oricinatinc in the Sea of Japan and tracking northeast into the 

 western Bering Sea/ or east to the date line then northeast and 

 north into the Gulf of Alaska. The pressure pattern was much 

 deeper than normal with a significant surface trough extending 

 south between 160W and 155*1 from a -10 mb anomaly over Bristol 

 Bay. The Pacific high was split into two/ with a +8 mb anomaly 

 over western r'''ontana diminishing to the south-southwest towards 

 30N/ 135W/ ana a +4 mb anomaly center near 30N/ 170E. 



The 700 mb level showed one major trough paralleling the Asian 

 coast and another extending from Dutch Harbor south-southeast 

 toward 3C-V/ 15QW. The normal ridge over the Rockies was higher 

 and sharper than usual/ and a trough sloped southwest ward from 

 Labrador across the central United States. Flow was 

 west-southwesterly and more intense than normal over the North 

 Atlantic shioping lanes. 



December - Normal cyclonic activity occurred from Nova Scotia to 

 the Davis Strait and from Newfoundland through the Denmark 

 Strait/ as well as up the U.S. east coast. Four successive 

 storms on this last track battered the grounded oil tanker Arco 

 ^§rchdnt/ and the fourth one took the Grand Zenith as well. 



In the Pacific/ storms tracked along the Aleutian chain into the 



Gulf of Alaska. The low was near its usual position/ but was 



13 mb deeper than normal. High surface pressure dominated the 

 coast south of British Columbia. 



At the 700 mb level/ flow was more nearly zonal than in recent 

 months/ tut with a ridge over the U.S. west coast/ a broad trough 

 over the east coast/ g high over Iceland with an associated flat 

 ridge/ and a low over Scandinavia. 



LITERATURE CITED 



GOULET/ J. k.r Jr. and E. D. 

 1978. Ocean variability: 

 resources - 1975. U.S. 

 Circ. 416/ 350 p. 



HAYNES (editors). 

 Effects on U.S. marine fishery 

 Dep. Commer./ NOAA Tech. Rep. NI^FS 



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