OCEANOGRAPHIC OBSERVATIONS, 1958 

 EAST COAST OF THE UNITED STATES 



ABSTRACT 



Daily water temperature and salinity observations for 1958 from 

 seventeen locations along the Atlaintic seaboard are tabulated, plotted 

 and discussed for the third consecutive year. 



INTRODUCTION 



Through the cooperation of the U. S. 

 Coast Guard, the Woods Hole Oceanographic 

 Institution 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 and, courtesy of the U. S. Air 

 Force, from Texas Towers 2, 3 and 4. The 

 temperature data from Narragansett Marine 

 Laboratory, previously reported for 1956 

 cind 1957, is missing for 1958 because of 

 thermograph failure. 



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 tabu- 

 lated; salinities were determined by titra- 

 tion or 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 pro- 

 files for the year at each station where 

 bathythermographs were used. The one-third 

 monthly mean surface temperatures have been 

 plotted in comparison with the monthly mean 

 surface ten^erature for the period of 

 record of each station. 



The one-third monthly means of surface 

 salinity were appended to the temperature 

 profiles, together with the weekly bottom 

 salinity values. 



The monthly mean surface water temper- 

 atures for the year 1958 for all stations 

 are listed in tcible 1, for con^arison with 

 previous records. 



Again we are par 

 the U. S. Coast Guard 

 lightships participat 

 observations: to Mr. 

 Harbour, Grand Mainan; 

 Woods Hole atnd to the 

 Weather Squadron USAF 

 Towers reporting and 

 Base. 



ticularly indebted to 

 personnel aboard the 



ing for making the 

 Edward Green at Grand 

 Mr. George Ferris at 

 personnel of the 12 

 at the three Texas 



at Otis Air Force 



We hope to continue the collection and 

 publication of these data on an annual 

 basis, and should be glad to include data 

 of comparable nature from other locations. 



This work was supported by the U. S. 



Fish and Wildlife Service under Contract 



No. 14-17-008-62 with the Woods Hole Oceano- 

 graphic Institution. 



COMMENTARY 



Surface Temperature (Figure 1) 



The two outstanding features of the 

 surface water temperature regime during 

 the winter were the anomalously low readings 



