The cold wedge and an associated offshore bubble are apparently sea- 

 sonal phenomena. Formation of the wedge is probably a function of the 

 ■•verity of the previous winter and of the amount of precipitation received 

 on the eastern seaboard; dissipation is a function of dynamic oceanographic 

 processes (intrusion of oceanic water, energy exchange across the air-sea 

 interface, shoaling of internal waves, and tidal 'agitation) encountered 

 during the ensuing summer. The complexity of each factor involved in the 

 wedge life cycle makes long-term prediction unrealistic. Short-term 

 prediction, on the order of two or three weeks, is probably possible through 

 monitoring SXBT sections taken normal to the shelf at regular intervals. 



Estimation of energy exchange across the air-sea interface in this 

 area is presently possible. Data from Chesapeake Light Station should 

 suffice as meteorological input over the entire area, but oceanographic 

 data representative of each water mass would be required. Mixing and 

 advection in this area and season are expected to be more important in 

 heat budget computations than heat exchange across the air-sea -interface. 

 Wind-induced mixing would be expected to have less effect over the 

 stratified shelf water than in the warm gyre, where a mixed layer 

 occurred . 



Prediction of subsurface thermal structure by means of SSI observ- 

 ations is desirable but not completely reliable. Generalities concerning 

 the subsurface water structure can be used to supplement existing data 

 provided that (1) the characteristics of a given water regime are known 

 and (2) the water regime can be identified from surface observations. The 

 subsurface temperature maximum associated with the warm oceanic water is 

 an example of thermal structure which may be associated with a given water 

 regime. Based on data obtained during the present survey, a subsurface 

 temperature maximum could be expected to occur beneath 70 percent of the 

 warm-water surface observations made over deepwater with the ART aboard 

 the ASUEPS aircraft. 



CONCLUSIONS 



1. Warm water observed in the eastern segment of the survey area 

 intruded into coastal water from the Gulf Stream. Thermohaline relation- 

 ships infer considerable modification of this water after separation from 

 the G If Stream. The dynamic processes responsible for the intrusion are 

 as yet unknown. 



2. The cold wedge observed adjacent to the Continental Shelf and the 

 associated offshore bubble are vestiges o: surplus cold shelf water formed 

 during the previous winter. 



3. Based on the results of this survey, the probability of a sub- 

 surface temperature maximum occurring in areas of warm surface water over 



10 



