a7, 
Temperature Characteristics 
Orange County Outfall Area 
The temperature distribution immediately around the outfall 
terminus is complex, as in other discharge areas, with temperature 
inversions and rapid vertical and horizontal changes in temperature 
being common. Away from the boil, inversions and temperature 
fluctuations merge into isothermal water which is characteristic 
for this period of the year (Table 3). 
In the early months of the fall, a marked thermocline was 
present near the base of the water column, beginning at a depth 
of about 35 feet and intersecting the bottom. With the approach 
of winter the thermocline dissipated and from December through 
February the water was nearly isothermal to a depth of 50 feet. 
When the thermocline was present it separated the warm mixed 
surface layer from a thin wedge of cooler subsurface water, The 
boundary was usually complex being composed of several small 
thermoclines, These probably represented incomplete mixing of 
several discrete water layers, either from the effects of the 
effluent or from surface mixing of different magnitudes in the 
shallow shelf water. Shear between the two layers probably added 
to the complexity to varying extents. 
The thermocline was most important in its effect on the 
turbid layer of water developed by the discharged particulate 
material. When the thermocline was marked and represented a 
density of discontinuity of some magnitude, the turbid water 
flowed above the thermocline and carried with it high bacteria 
populations, With the suppression of the thermocline in the 
