Research Document - 2000/048

Oceanographic conditions in NAFO Divisions 2J 3KLMNO during 1999 with comparisons to the long-term (1961-1990) average.

By E. Colbourne

Abstract

Oceanographic observations from Hamilton Bank on the Southern Labrador Shelf to the Southern Grand Bank on the Newfoundland Shelf during 1999 are presented referenced to their long-term (1961-1990) means. Temperatures at Station 27 ranged from 0.25^o to 1^oC above normal during the winter months over most of the water column. The spring warming of the water column in the inshore Newfoundland Region began about 2 weeks earlier than normal and maximum summer surface temperatures reached a near record high of 15^oC. As a result temperatures were over 2^oC above normal at the surface during June and July. Bottom temperatures throughout the year ranged from 0.25^o to 0.5 ^oC above normal. Salinities at Station 27 were above normal during the winter months and below normal during the rest of the year. During the summer and fall of 1999 the cross-sectional area of sub-zero ^oC (CIL) water off Bonavista, Hamilton Bank and on the Grand Bank decreased over 1998 values continuing the below normal trend established in 1995. Bottom temperatures on the Northern Grand Bank during the spring of 1999 were up to 1° C above average and over the central and Southern Grand Bank they were up to 1-3^oC above the long-term average. During the fall bottom temperatures from Hamilton Bank to the southern Grand Bank were significantly above normal. The area of sub-zero ^oC water covering the bottom on all major banks in the Newfoundland Region during the fall, and on the Grand Banks during spring, had decreased to near 0%. In general, during 1999 ocean temperatures were above normal over most areas continuing the trend established in 1996. The main exception during 1999 was the colder-than-normal temperature anomaly associated with the Labrador Current which was evident in the standard transect data off eastern Newfoundland during the summer months and at Station 27 by early fall.

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