OCEANOGRAPHIC OBSERVATIONS, 1960 

 EAST COAST OF THE UNITED STATES 



by 

 C. Godfrey Day 



ABSTRACT 



Daily water temperature and salinity observations for I960 from 

 eighteen locations along the Atlantic seaboard are tabulated, plotted and discussed 

 for the fifth consecutive year. 



INTRODUCTION 



Through the cooperation of the U.S. Coast 

 Guard, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institu- 

 tion established late in 1955 a series of 

 oceanographic observation posts at a number 

 of lightship stations along the east coast of 

 the United States. Additional data have been 

 obtained from independent observers, from 

 the Narragansett Marine Laboratory and, 

 courtesy of the U.S. Air Force, from Texas 

 Towers 2, 3, and 4. 



The lightship data have been forwarded on a 

 monthly basis to Woods Hole, where they have 

 been processed. The bathythermograms have 

 been read at several levels and tabulated; 

 salinities were determined by salinometer. The 

 records of air temperature, weather, wind, and 

 clouds were used in studying the other data, 

 but are not presented here as they are the 

 same as those published in the daily weather 

 maps of the U.S. Weather Bureau. 



In addition to tabulating these data, mean 

 temperatures for each level for three equal 

 time periods per month have been determined 

 and plotted, as time-depth profiles for the 

 year at each station where bathythermographs 

 were used. The one-third monthly mean sur- 

 face temperatures have been plotted in com- 

 parison with the monthly mean surface tem- 

 perature for the period of record of each 

 station. 



The one-third monthly means of surface 

 salinity have been appended to the tempera- 

 ture profiles, together with the weekly bottom 

 salinity values. 



The monthly mean surface water tempera- 

 tures for the year I960 for all stations are 

 listed in table 1 for comparison with previous 

 records. 



We are particularly indebted to the U.S. 

 Coast Guard personnel aboard participating 

 lightships, and to the personnel of the 12th 

 Weather Squadron, USAF, at the three Texas 

 Towers reporting and at Otis Air Force Base. 



We hope to continue the collection and 

 publication of these data on an annual basis, 

 and should be glad to include data of a 

 comparable nature from other locations. 



This work was supported by the Bureau of 

 Commercial Fisheries, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

 Service, under Contract No. 14- 17-0007-9 with 

 the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. 



COMMENTARY 



Summary for 1956-60 



Since the present report marks the com- 

 pletion of 5 years of oceanographic observa- 

 tions under this program, a brief description 

 of results to date is perhaps appropriate. 



Surface Temperature. --Day to day varia- 

 tions in temperature, sometimes of considera- 

 ble magnitude, are found at nearly all stations; 

 these changes are often obscured in the 10- 

 day mean values used for the temperature 

 profiles in the reports. They are more pro- 

 nounced at near- shore stations, where they 

 appear to be the result of tidal action on 

 relatively shallow water which is constantly 

 being mixed and subjected to the influence of 

 unmodified continental air. Further offshore, 

 with the exception of Diamond Shoals, tem- 

 perature is naore stable from day to day. 



With only 5 years of record it is not possible 

 to distinguish between normal and unusual de- 

 partures from mean conditions. Temperature 

 regimes differ at various stations according to 

 the hydrographic geography. 



In the annual cycle, warming and chilling of 

 surface waters are fairly viniform trends with 

 few reversals. The more static conditions of 

 summer and winter are subject to abrupt, 

 short-ternn changes; these are more pro- 

 nounced during the summer when strong winds 

 often partially mix a stratified water column. 

 The short-term wintertime changes are less 

 marked; they result no doubt from changes in 

 air tennperature and from advection. 



