Paper 2 



the dominant events of that year so far as the oceans were 

 concerned. Over both oceans our attention is immediately drawn 

 to the record extent of colder than normal surface water; in the 

 annual mean/' exactly 90% of the 5 degree squares (20N-63N) were 

 below normal temperature in either ocean. In each sector the 

 main zone of intense cooling extended across the northern ocean 

 areas with the center of coolinc; displaced to the west/ 

 reflecting both the antecedent conditions at the close of 1975 

 and the continuation of the tendency for vigorous westerly flow 

 at high latitudes throughout much of 1976. Farther south/ the 

 domains of the strengthened subtropical rioges are marked by 

 zones of minimum cooling or by actual warming in each ocean/ 

 while at still lower latitudes/ the general strength of the trade 

 winds flowing around these nor t hwar d-di sp laceo ridges is apparent 

 in thie zonal band of cooling at about 2CM-25M. 



These mean annual distributions are thus dominated by the zonal 

 circulation tendencies which characterized the winter and spring 

 (and antecedent) seasons/ rather than by the more amplified flo« 

 which prevailed at the close of the year. however/ these latter 

 "atypical" conditions were to be of more than passing signifi- 

 cance. With surface temperature gradients over the eastern 

 Pacific in fall favoring continjed ridging over the Rockies/ and 

 with the chilled east favoring maintenance of the east coast 

 trough/ the stage was set for the intensification of the fall 

 temperature regime into the record breaking ^.inter conditions of 

 1977. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



Part of this research was sponsored by the ^iational Science 

 Foundation/ Office for the International Decade of Ocean 

 Exploration/ under NSF Contract No. 0CE74-24592/ and the 

 University of California/ San Diego/ Scripps Institution of 

 Oceanography/ through NORPAX. 



LITERATURE CITED 



DICKSON/ R. R. 



1976a. Weather and circulation of February 1976. Extreme 



warmth over the eastern two-thirds of the United States. Mo. 



Weather iJev. 1CA:660-665. 

 1976b. Weather and circulation of August 1976. Extremes of 



wetness in the West and dryness in the Midwest. Mo. Weather 



Rev. 104:1455-1460. 



26 



