The following excerpts are taken from Reference 3, Sections on 

 Temperature and Salinity, pages 2358-2363. 



"TEMFERATUEE 



"Studies of water temperature in this region are of special 

 interest "because summer air temperatures are as great at 123" F. . , , 

 During the 2 weeks spent in the Gulf of Cman and the Persian Gulf, 

 625 "bathythermograph lowerings were made, iDut the records for 185 

 were lost in shipping. Most of the lowerings were accompanied "by a 

 thermometer measurement of the surface water collected in a "bucket 

 or in a cup attached to the thermometer. Strong surface heating in 

 the afternoon produced a marked temperature gradient near the water 

 surface. Below the zone of surface heating the water was usually 

 isothermal to depths of 20 to 75 feet. In order to avoid the effects 

 of diurnal temperature variations the surface temperature was taken 

 from the "bathythermograms at an indicated depth of 10 feet. 



"The resulting ' surface ' temperature values were plotted and 

 isotherms drawn as shown "by Figure IV-1 . During this August study 

 there was noted a general increase in temperature from a"bout 75° F. 

 in the Ara"bian Sea to more than 92° along "both sides of the Persian 

 Gulf. In the Strait of Hormuz the surface temperatures were mostly 

 "between 89° and 90°^ with the lower values extending as a tongue 

 through the middle of the strait into the Persian Gulf. A similar 

 tongue of 89°-90° water extended from the delta southeastward into 

 the other end of the Gulf. This tongue was reflected and continued 

 in the 90° -92" temperature "belt which extended from the head of the 

 Gulf to a point two-thirds of the distance to the Strait of Hormuz. 

 Along both sides of the Gulf the nearshore water temperature reached 

 nearly 9k° . In fact, several thermometer measurements of surface- 

 water temperatures in the early afternoon yielded values of 95-2°, 

 indicating gradients of ahout 2° in 5-10 feet. The whole picture 

 of the distri"bution of surface temperatures in August, 19^8, is 

 different from that presented "by Schott (191812) for the summer 

 months, "but it is "based on considerably more data than were avail- 

 able to Schott . 



"Some idea of the distribution of surface temperatures in win- 

 ter is given in Figure III-l, a compilation of measurements by 

 Schott (1908) and Blegvad (19^'^) . Although details can not be de- 

 termined from so few data, it is obvious that the temperatures of 

 winter are far different from those of summer, with values of only 

 60° at the head of the Gulf, increasing to about the same 75° iii 

 the Arabian Sea that we found in August. Thus, the water at the 

 head of the Gulf undergoes an annual change of at least 30°' 



38 



