Introduction 



The summaries of sea water temperatures and salinities presented 

 in this publication are based on observations made in Pacific harbor 

 and coastal waters through the year 1960. The sea water temperatures 

 and salinities were observed primarily at tide stations vjhich, in the 

 United States and possessions, were maintained by the Coast and Geode- 

 tic Survey, often with the cooperation of other organizations. The 

 data for six places on the California coast, nam.ely La Jolla, Balboa, 

 Port Hueneme , Pacific Grove, North Farallon Island and Blunts Reef 

 Lightship, were supplied by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 

 The data for places in^Chile were supplied by the Departamento de 

 Navegacion e Hidrografia, Republi.ca de Chile, and for the Philippine 

 Islands by the Bureau of Coast and Geodetic Survey of the Republic 

 of the Philippines. For places in other countries, the Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey derived the data from observations made by organiza- 

 tions in the particular countrv. In Latin America, the observations 

 were obtained through the cooperation of the Inter Am.erican Geodetic 

 Survey . 



Table 2 presents monthly means and annual means and extremes of 

 the surface v/ater temperatures and salinities for each year of obser- 

 vation after 1954. Earlier observations are combined in five-year 

 groups. For each station at which the series of observations covered 

 two or more years, there are given the following m.onthly values for 

 the series: the mean of the monthly m.eans , the maximum observed, the 

 m.ean of the monthly maxima, the mean of the monthly minima and the 

 m.inimum observed. 



VJhen an asterisk appears in either extreme temperature column in 

 Table 2, it indicates that the extreme may have been exceeded if ob- 

 servations had been available for all months in which the maximum or 

 minimum normally occurs. If observations are not available for any 

 month in which the yearly maximum or minimum may have occured, the ex- 

 treme has been omitted. For salinities, the yearly extremes are from 

 the months of the year for v;hich m.eans are given. If thev are from, an 

 incomplete year, they are followed by an asterisk. 



The temperature data given in degrees Fahrenheit are based on the 

 thermometer readings made in a sample of vjater drawn by bucket from a 

 foot or two below the surface. They can be converted to degrees centi- 

 grade by means of Table 1. The salinity of sea water, denoted by the 

 symbol 0/00, is defined as the number of grams of salts contained in 

 1000 grams of sea water. Salinity can be determined by several differ- 

 ent methods, one of the simplest being based on the density of water 

 as obtained by using a hydrometer. The salinity data in this publi- 

 cation were computed from, hydrometer readings corrected to a standard 

 temperature of 59° F. 



The observations are usually made once each weekday at whatever 

 time the observer attends the gage. At some stations situated within 

 or near the entrance of an estuary, the temperature or salinity varies 

 with the stage of tide or with the direction of the tidal current. It 

 may be assumed that in the course of a month or a year the distribution 

 of observations is fairly uniform over all phases of the tide. 



The mean temperature and salinity curves. are derived from the 

 m.onthly m.eans given in Table 2 and show graphically the seasonal vari- 

 ations for many places. 



This publication supersedes CSGS Special Publication No. 280, Sur- 

 face Water Temperatures, Pacific Coast, North and South Am.erica and 

 Pacific Ocean Islands, 1956, and C£GS Publication 31-U, Density of Sea 

 Water, Pacific Coast, North and South America and Pacific Ocean Islands, 

 1958. I 



