position of the Gulf Stream. Upon returning to base, Pickett examined 

 ESSA 3 pictures for the same period and made the remarkable correlation 

 shown in Figure 11. 



Cloud patterns, such as those outlining the currents shown in 

 Figures 10 and 11, are visible on other satellite photographs and 

 thus would seem to indicate a regular relationship between clouds and 

 many of the large currents of the oceans. Further examination of the 

 cloud patterns, however, reveals more than the mere delineation of 

 these gross oceanic features by indirectly disclosing the thermal 

 conditions of the water, both horizontally and vertically. 



The Bay of Bengal during the spring inter-monsoonal period may 

 be used as an example of cloud conditions indicating a change in the 

 vertical structure of the water. 



The actual time of the monsoonal advance into the bay varies yearly. 

 For example, ESSA 5 pictures for 12, Ik, and 16 June I967 (Figure 12) 

 show the movement of the first low pressure system of the summer 

 monsoon in the Bay of Bengal. These pictures are of oceanographic 

 interest because they reveal indirectly the actual period of the 

 transition in the water column. At this time, the warm, stratified 

 waters characteristic of the late winter (northeast) monsoon tumble 

 and mix under the pressure of the winds of this first low. The water 

 structure thereupon assumes the comparatively cooler, deeper, mixed 

 layer and stronger thermoclinal conditions which are characteristics 

 of the early summer (southwest) monsoon. During this transition period, 

 the waters in the northwestern portions of the bay have the stratified 

 structure typical of the winter monsoon whereas, behind the cloud front 



23 



