MONTHLY CHARTS OF MEAN, MINIMUM, AND MAXIMUM SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN.

• Main Authors: LaViolette, Paul E., Howard, Walter, Mason, Curtis
• Other Authors: NAVAL OCEANOGRAPHIC OFFICE NSTL STATION MS
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1968
• Subjects: Physical and Dynamic Oceanography; (*SURFACE TEMPERATURE; PACIFIC OCEAN); MAPS; PERIODIC VARIATIONS; SALINITY; DENSITY; ACCURACY; INJECTION; DISTRIBUTION; THERMAL PROPERTIES; OCEAN CURRENTS; COASTAL REGIONS; OCEANOGRAPHIC DATA; NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN; UPWELLING; Bering Sea; Okhotsk; Pacific; Aleutian Island
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/AD0828222; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0828222

These charts, based on ship injection temperature data, show the monthly mean, minimum, and maximum sea surface temperatures for the Pacific Ocean. The data are numerous in all but the equatorial portion of the area, and during the winter in the Bering Sea and Sea of Okhotsk. The minimum and maximum sea surface charts show temperature variations which are sometimes masked by the averaging of the temperatures on the mean charts. This is most evident in the large current systems such as the North Pacific gyral. For example, the maximum charts show that temperatures south of Japan sometimes exceed 90F. and indicate a need for further study on what effect this would have on the Kuroshio. Upwelling along the coast of the continents is also evident from the charts. The cold waters indicative of such action are graphically displayed along the Aleutian Island chain and the coasts of California and South America. Because of the large quantity of data involved, these charts, in general, are more definitive than charts of other parameters such as salinity, except where the analysis was based on fewer than 10 observations per one-degree guadrangle or in regions where averaging disguises more complex thermal structure. (Author)