16 



ring of mountains and with the inversion acting as a "lid", 

 the haze may last for several weeks. Visibility in Santa 

 Monica Bay during these periods is normally greater than 

 3 miles and less than 12 miles. 



Wind Direction and Velocity 



The dominant winds occur in the afternoon, are westerly, 

 and are primarily the result of the land and sea breeze regime 

 active along the coast. Higher velocities normally occur in 

 the afternoons with the west winds, the land breezes at night 

 from the east or northeast are usually less than Beaufort 

 Force 2. Even Santanna wind conditions do not bring strong 

 northeasterlies to this area as the force is much reduced 

 after the air mass spreads out Across the Los Angeles Plain. 

 The wind conditions at Venice are similar to those noted at 

 the Los Angeles International Airport and are known to be 

 somewhat different from those obtained aboard the VELERO IV 

 in Santa Monica Bay. 



Wind conditions which are probably more representative 

 of nearshore ocean areas are shown in Figure 5. This is a 

 compilation from the monthly aerological records of the 

 U. S. Navy aircraft carriers LEXINGTON and SARATOGA from 

 April 1928 to July 1937. During this period the two ships 

 were at an anchorage two miles seaward from Long Beach for 

 a total time of 3.93 years. The winds were predominantly 

 light with velocities less than 13 mph, and blew the greatest 

 number of days from the southwest. For 60% of the year (219 

 days) the wind blew for more than 30 days, each from 5 different 



