Paper 9 



SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE ANOMALIES 



Dougl as R . McLai n ' 



Monthl 

 depart 

 for th 

 the w 

 At lant 

 were 

 surf ac 

 m any n 

 and at 

 i nc lud 

 su rf ac 

 F i shin 

 are a 

 uses 

 t emper 

 ana Lys 

 the da 

 period 

 War II 



y mean sea s 

 ures from a 

 e Gulf of AL 

 estern Nort 

 i c was mappe 

 mapped for 

 e marine wea 

 at i ons .^ T 

 low costx a 

 ing these 

 e temperatur 

 a Infg£mati 

 few impo rtan 

 the same 2 

 atures and 

 is; the d 

 ta and uses 



i nc I udes 

 f and cluste 



urface temperatures and their anomalies^ or 

 20-yr (1948-67) mean/' for 1976 have been mapped 

 aska-3ering Sea/ the eastern North Pacific/ and 

 h Atlantic (Appendix 9.1). The western North 

 d for 1974 (McLain 1976) and all three areas 



1975 (McLain 1978). The maps are based on 

 ther observations made routinely by ships of 

 he observations are available in near real-time 

 nd are used to produce several data products 

 monthly mean maps. There are other maps of sea 

 e available/ in particular auifst ream ' and 

 gn.^ The areas covered sre distinct and there 

 t processing differences. Fishing Information 

 Q-yr base period as the present maps. The 



anomalies are contoured and thus reflect 

 ata are not presented. The gulfstream presents 

 a full data set historical mean. The reference 

 years of sparse data/ particularly before World 

 rs of data from classical research cruises. 



T echnigue 



The observations of sea surface temperature were edited through a 

 two-stage filter. In the first stage/ all observations <-2.0C or 

 >40C were rejected. In the second stage/ observations >8.0C from 

 a reference value were rejected- The reference value was the 

 base period mean for the particular month and the particular 



'Pacific Environmental Group/ National Marine Fisheries Service/ 

 NOAA/ Monterey/ CA 93949. 



^The marine weather observations are transmitted worldwide over 

 the GTS network. They are received at the Fleet Numerical 

 Weather Central/ U.S. Navy/ Monterey/ CA 93940. 



^The gyifstream/ Oceanogr aphi c Services Branch/ National Weather 

 Service/ NOAA/ Silver Spring/ MD 2091D. 



'fishing lQfe£[DSti2D' Southwest Fisheries Center/ NMFS/ NOAA/ 

 La~JolLa/ CA 92038T 



111 



