visibility 



93. Visibility in coastal nearshore waters depends on the amount of 

 salts, soluble organic material, detritus, living organisms, and inorganic 

 particles in the water. These dissolved and suspended materials change the 

 absorption and attenuation characteristics of the water, which vary daily and 

 throughout the year. 



94. Like water temperature, visibility is related to onshore and off- 

 shore winds. Onshore winds move warm clean water towards shore, while off- 

 shore winds bring up colder bottom water with large concentrations of sus- 

 pended matter. 



95. Present data year. Figure 37 shows daily visibility values for the 

 year. Between June and September, the visibility was occasionally above 6 m; 

 however, visibility was less than 2 m approximately just as often during those 

 months. Table 10 shows the monthly means for the year. 



10- 

















9- 















• MONTHLY MEAN VALUE 



a- 

















7- 

















2 8- 















.' 



> 



> i- 













- 



-• 



3- 









•• 



• / 



/.. 



tr%._ . 



2- 



1- 



. S 



/■ 



f5^ 



^ 



> 



•* 



.)\^^^^-..- 



Oi 



".' 







r 





— 1 1— — 



• -.tr^-.- 



JRN FEB 

 1904 



fVR mt Xh 



RUG SEP OCT NOV DEC 



MONTH 

 Figure 37. Daily sea surface water visibility, 1984 



65 



