Buzzards Lightship (Figure 9, Table 9) 



The winter minimum surface temperature at Buzzards station was 32,4 F 

 in late February and was 3.9 F lower than the 1957 minimum. Warming began 

 in early March, but temperatures remained below the 1957 record. While 

 1956 was colder during the spring than was 1958, after June the summer 

 months of 1958 were cooler than either of the previous two years. The highest 

 surface temperature occurred in early September at 65.7 F. Autumn cooling was 

 more rapid than it was in 1956 and 1957, and December showed a sharp drop in 

 surface temperatures. 



The three years record from the current lightship program indicates 

 that comparison with the mean for Vineyard Sound Lightship (1878 - 1910), 

 which lay less than four miles from the present position of Buzzards, may 

 be misleading. The records at Buzzards from 1956 - 1958 are consistently 

 higher than are those for the Vineyard Sound Lightship. Consequently the 

 record for 1958, which we have classed as a cold year, nevertheless falls 

 on or above the 32-year mean for the old Vineyard Sound station. 



The 1957 and 1958 surface salinities were very similar up until 

 mid-April, after which time the 1958 values fell lower as a result of greater 

 run-off. Throughout the summer and well into the autumn surface salinity 

 was lower in 1958 than it had been during the previous two years. 



SURFACE s%„ 



Figure 9. Buzzards Lightship, 1958, (Dashed line, mean for Vineyard Sound 

 Ughtship, 1878-1910) 



46 



