Frying Pan Shoals Lightship (Figure 16, ‘Table 16) 
Surface temperatures from late Jmuary through early June were 
above both the mean and the 1956 record. The winter minimum occurred 
at the bottom in January and was warmer by 5 degrees than the 1956 mini- 
mum. A surface maximum of greater than 60°F appeared briefly in mid- 
August. 
As in 1956, the thermocline was the result of an intrusion of 
relatively cold water at the bottom which produced a temperature gradient, 
surface to bottom, of 6 degrees. The minimum temperature in the intru= 
sion was 2 degrees warmer than the minimum in the 1956 intrusion. At the 
time of the surface maximum, the temperature gradient was only 2 degrees. 
There was no indication of coastal water arriving at this sta- 
tion from the north as had been the case in November of 1956. 
Temperature data from October through the end of the year are 
open to question and should be considered at best as approximations, as 
the bathythermograph was not functioning properly. 
Surface salinities were greater than 36.0 °/oo from January 
through mid-April and again from October through the end of the year; 
during these times surface and bottom readings were nearly identical. 
Summer values were generally less than 36.0 °/oo and were slightly lower 
than those for the previous year. This is in contrast with the reduced 
runoff which was apparent north of Cape Hatteras. 
LOT 
