Winter Quarter Lightship (Figure 13, Table 13) 



From March through July surface temperatures exceeded both 

 the mean and the 1956 record. The maximum occurred during the last ten 

 days of July, followed by a drop and a second slight increase in mid- 

 September. Autumn cooling was slightly slower than the mean and com- 

 parable to 1956. 



Minimum temperatures of less than Ul^F, both surface and bot- 

 tom, occurred in early Inarch, and were slightly above the 19$6 minima. 

 As in 1956 the thermocline started to develop in April; warming, how- 

 ever, of the entire water col\amn had begun a f-ull month earlier. 



The bottom maximum of 66''F occiirred in early October at the 

 same time as the autumn overturn and was 2° warmer than the 1956 bot- 

 tom maximum. An intrusion of relatively cold bottom water occurred in 

 September and there is evidence of a similar intrusion during July. 

 (The site of this station is apparently over a steep slope and the maxi- 

 mum depth of the BT trace changed when the regular lightship was re- 

 placed by the Relief.) 



Surface salinity showed a minimum of 31.79 °/oo in mid-May and 

 a ma:d.num of 33*29 °/oo in raid-March. These values are IxLgher than those 

 in 1956. Freshening through runoff was later and less extreme than in 

 the previous year. 



77 



