SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE MONTHLY AVERAGE 

 AND ANOMALY CHARTS NORTHEASTERN 

 PACIFIC OCEAN, 1947-58 



by 



James H. Johnson 

 Oceanographer 

 Bureau of Commercial Fisheries 

 San Diego, California 



ABSTRACT 



Sea temperature data in the area bounded by the west coast of 

 North America and longitude 150° W. and latitude 20° N. to 54° N. 

 and temperature data at four coastal stations along the west coast of 

 North America are presented in two parts. Part I consists of 12 

 monthly average charts based on data from 1947 to 1958, and Part II 

 consists of 144 monthly anomaly charts derived from the average 

 charts. 



INTRODUCTION 



The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's 

 Bureau of Commercial Fisheries Bio- 

 logical Laboratory, San Diego, Cali- 

 fornia, is conducting oceanographic 

 investigations on the causes and pre- 

 dictability of changes in availability 

 of tunas of the eastern Pacific Ocean. 

 One aspect of these investigations is the 

 issuance of monthly sea surface tem- 

 perature charts of the eastern Pacific 

 (Branch of Market News, I960). The 

 preparation of these charts is a con- 

 tinuation and expansion of a similar 

 program initiated in 1957 by the Bureau 

 of Commercial Fisheries Biological 

 Laboratory, Honolulu, Hawaii. The 

 purpose of these charts is to provide 

 current sea temperature information 

 to the fishing industry and to marine 

 scientists. 



In addition to publishing current 

 temperature information, scientists at 



the San Diego Laboratory are studying 

 historical sea surface temperature data 

 and fishing records to ascertain rela- 

 tionships between sea temperatures and 

 the spatial and temporal distribution of 

 the eastern Pacific tunas. My objective 

 is to present, for use and information of 

 others, sea temperature data of the 

 eastern Pacific Ocean from 1947 to 

 1958 that have been compiled for these 

 tuna environmental studies. 



That the distribution of tunas in the 

 eastern Pacific is influenced by sea 

 surface temperatures is well docu- 

 mented. Hubbs and Schultz (1929) at- 

 tributed the appearance of albacore 

 (Thunnus germo) in 1925 and 1926 north- 

 ward of their usual range off the west 

 coast of North America to above- 

 normal water temperatures. The de- 

 velopment of the albacore fishery off 

 the California coast in 1957 farther 

 north than during the preceding 6 years 

 likewise has been attributed to higher 

 than normal temperatures (Radovich, 



