Svirface Water Temperatures along the Atlantic and Gulf 

 Coasts of the United States 



Sea water temperatures have been collected daily at numerous 

 places along the eastern and southern seaboards of tJie United 

 States, Many of these records commenced during the latter part 

 of the nineteenth century and contuined on into the early part 

 of the twentieth century. Many others, unfortunately, were of 

 shorter duration. These records were collected at the instiga- 

 tion of the U. S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries (USCFF) by 

 the lighthouse and lightship keepers under the direction of the 

 U, S, Lighthouse Board and ty members of the U, S, Signal Corps, 

 Rathbun (188?) reported on many of these data for the period 

 1881-85. Parr (1933) also employed some of these data for the 

 period 1928-31 in an examination of the seasonal changes in 

 temperature from a geographic-ecological point of view. 



Latterly, the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (USC&GS) 

 has made temperature observations in connection with their tide 

 stations and have published the monthly means (U, S. Department 

 of Commerce, 1955). The U, S, Weather Bureau (National Weather 

 Records Center) (NWRC) has kindly furnished recent data from 

 lightships taken four times daily. 



Interest in the changes in the msirine environment has 

 mounted recently due to the increasing awareness of the spread 

 of populations (Scattergood 1952) and the documented changes in 

 the environment (Collier, 1951;; Ketchen, 1956; Taylor, Bdgelow 

 and Graham, 1957). 



As mentioned above, the historical records of surface water 

 temperature have been published only in part. There are pre- 

 sented herein the monthly and annual mean sxirface water temper- 

 atures for the period of record witii the exception of the USC&GS 

 data, in order to make these data available to investigating 

 biologists. 



The original U. S, Commission of Fish and Fisheries (USCFF), 

 U, S. Bureau of Fisheries (USBF), U, S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

 (USFWS), daily data are on file at the Woods Hole Oceanographic 

 Institution, These data consist of daily or twice daily air and 

 water temperatures, wind and weather observations, together with 

 notes, in mary instances, of fish obsei^rations. Such data are 



