Water temperature 



90. Present year. Daily sea surface water temperatures at the seaward 

 end of the FRF pier (Figure 34) experienced large variations during May through 

 July. Large variations were common when there were large differences between 

 the air and water temperature and the wind direction varied. For example, 

 very high water temperatures were measured from 20 through 23 June. This was 

 caused by air temperatures in excess of 31° C that heated the surface water 

 prior to persistent onshore winds that piled up warm surface water along the 

 shoreline. When the winds were offshore, the colder bottom water circulated 



up resulting in low temperatures. Monthly mean temperatures (Table 10) varied 

 with the air temperatures (see Table 3) with approximately a 1-month lag. 



91. 1984 versus prior years. Although the site experienced a cold 

 January, cool July, and warm August, the water temperatures during other 

 months of the year were similar to prior years (Figure 35). 



92. All years combined. The distribution of surface water temperatures 

 for all years combined is shown in Figure 36. Temperatures in excess of 25° C 

 can be expected 4.7 percent of the time (or 17 days per year), while tempera- 

 tures below 4° C can be expected 21 days per year. 



JM res int m wn XN 



I9M 



nUQ 90> OCT MOV KC 



nam 



Figure 34. Daily sea surface water temperatures, 1984 



62 



