Water Temperatures and Climatological Conditions South of New England, 1974-83

From 1974 through 1983, we conducted monitoring to provide the first long-term, year-round record of sea water temperatures south of New England from surface to bottom, and from nearshore to the continental slope. Expendable bathythermograph transects were made approximately monthly during the ten years by scientists and technicians from numerous institutions, working on research vessels that traversed the continental shelf off southern New England. Ten-year (1974-83) means and variability are presented for coastal and bottom water temperatures, for mid-shelf water column temperatures, and for some atmospheric and oceanographic conditions that may influence shelf and upper-slope water temperatures. Possible applications of ocean temperature monitoring to fishery ecology are noted. Some large departures from mean conditions are discussed; particularly notable during the decade were the response of water temperatures to the passage of Gulf Stream warm-core rings, and the magnitude and persistence of shelf-water cooling associated with air temperatures in three successive very cold winters (1976-77, 1977-78, and 1978-79). (PDF file contains 51 pages.)