Excerpt from Oceanographic Observations, North Atlantic Ocean Station Echo: November 1967-December 1968

The data collected during 14 patrols on Ocean Station echo from 28 November 1967 to 5 December 1968 were analyzed to determine if annual cycles of temperature and salinity could be observed (figs. 44 and Changes in sur face layer temperature followed a seasonal pat tern, reaching a maximum in midsummer and a minimum during the colder winter months. Salinity also varied with the seasons, generally increasing and decreasing in phase with the temperature. The salinity cycle, however, was not as well defined as the temperature cycle.

The annual temperature cycle at echo dur ing the observational period consisted of a cooling trend in the surface water from N ovember 1967 through February 1968. By late January, the cooling effect extended to a depth of 200 m. The minimum surface temperature was recorded on 1 March 1968, after which a gradual warming of the surface layer was noted. After remaining relatively constant during April and May 1968, the sea surface temperature began to increase until the maxi mum temperature value was reached on 1 August 1968. Temperature values re mained near the maximum value through Sep tember before cooling caused a gradual decline throughout the remainder of the observational period.

During November and December 1967, the water column was isothermal to a depth of about 85 m. As cooling continued, the depth of the isothermal layer increased. By late Jan uary 1968, it had reached a maximum depth of about 200 m. During March and April 1968, the surface water layer began warming slowly. Below the gradually deepening layer of warmer surface water, the water column remained iso thermal to almost 200 m. By May 1968, surface heating and wind mixing had combined to destroy the subsurface isothermal layer. As the surface water mass began to cool in September, an isothermal layer developed and had reached a depth of 100 m by early December 1968.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.