Graduation date: 1969

Thesis (M.S.)--U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, 1971. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-144).

For a number of years daily observations of surface temperature and salinity have been taken at ooeanographic stations (mostly lighthouses) on the B. C. coast. The present thesis is the first attempt that has been made to systematically analyse this data. The annual variation in temperature was seen to follow the general climatological trend of the B. C. coast at each of the stations, although a wide range in the amplitudes of these periodic variations was noted. The factors influencing the amplitude of the annual temperature curves were considered and such effects as incoming radiation, the extent of turbulence, the degree of shelter and the phenomena of upwelling due to horizontal wind stress (West Coast of Vancouver Island) have been discussed for each of the stations. Correlations were made between available meteorological information and the sea temperature observations and an attempt has been made to determine temperature contours of the B. C. coastal waters during the summer when the surface temperature is least uniform. The salinity observations were treated in an analogous manner to temperature and found to exhibit characteristic periodic annual variations. The stations were classified by means of these variations and the influences of precipitation and fresh water runoff, evaporation and mixing were discussed and correlations with meteorological observations were again made. / Science, Faculty of / Physics and Astronomy, Department of / Graduate

Graduation date: 1963

This study examines the seasonal variability in temperature and salinity of the nearshore waters off Oregon and Northern California. Specifically, temperature and salinity variations during summer and winter were ana1yzed from data gathered at shore stations along the coast and from hydrographic data collected within 25 nautical miles of shore. At each of five shore stations a modal cell technique was used to establish the temperature-salinity characteristics of the "normal" water type existing at each station during summer and winter. A classification scheme was employed to determine what local processes were influential in altering the "normal" T-S characteristics at each station. In summer mixing with Columbia River plume water was found to be the major modifying process along the Northern Oregon coast. Off Central and Southern Oregon local heating and mixing with water from the shelf/slope region were found to be most influential. In winter dilution due to precipitation and subsequent runoff is the major modifying factor along the entire coast except off Northern Oregon where mixing with shelf/slope waters is slightly more influential. The temperature and salinity structure of the near surface waters (< 200 meters) was examined for four latitudinal zones off the Oregon- Northern California coast. Within each zone profiles were constructed at 5, 15, and 25 nautical miles offshore. Surface waters are warmer and more saline in summer than in winter. Surface temperatures increase seaward in both seasons. Surface salinities increase seaward only during winter; in summer the increase is shoreward. Offshore gradients of temperature and salinity are one to two orders of magnitude greater than longshore gradients. A strong thermocline to 30 meters and a strong halocline to 75 meters is present in summer. In winter the water is isothermal to 50 meters while a strong halocline is present to 100 meters. Below these levels temperatures and salinities continue to slowly decrease and increase, respectively, until at 200 meters they become constant throughout the study area. Variability with distance from shore is significant only in summer and is constrained to the upper 150 meters of the water column. / Graduation date: 1972

Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii, 1970. / Bibliography: leaves 207-211. / [15], 211 l illus., maps, tables

Measurements of temperature and salinity in the upper 5 m of the ocean along the equator showed cool fresh anomalies due to rain showers. The measurements were made between 140 W and 110 W during April 1987, an El Nino year. The eastern equatorial Pacific was characterized by weak winds (3 m/s average), high rainfall (1.6 cm/day), and warm surface temperatures (28.4 C). Measurements of temperature were made from a catamaran float at 0.5 and 1 m depth and at 5 m depth from the ship. Salinity was measured at a depth of 1 m from the float and 5 m from the ship. The float was towed off of the port side of the ship outside of the bow wake. Near-surface low temperature and low salinity anomalies due to cool rainfall were encountered. These anomalies were on average cool and fresh by 0.02 C and 0.2 PSTJ with maximum values of 0.5 C and 1.6 PSU. The horizontal extent of the anomalies ranged from less than 10 to more than 100 km. Rainfall depths estimated from salt conservation agreed roughly with shipboard rain-gauge measurements. The characteristic lifetime of the anomalies, estimated from the ratio of the average rain depth to average rain rate, was about 10 hrs. Rainfall temperatures were computed from the T-S mixing curves for three large, newly-formed anomalies. The average rainfall temperature was 21 C. Ocean buoyancy fluxes estimated for intense rain showers were an order of magnitude larger than the fluxes in the absence of rain. / Graduation date: 1992 / Best scan available for p.15-16, 35. Original is a black and white photocopy.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Meteorology, 1979. / Microfiche copy available in Archives and Science. / Bibliography : leaves 45-48. / by Clare Bertram Billing, Jr. / M.S.