- Introduction
- Marine climate
- Sea surface temperature
- Sea surface salinity
- Vertical structure
- Ocean currents
- Regional processes
- Tides
- Surface waves
- Conversion factors
- On-line references
- Authors
- Copyright
Surface water temperature
Surface water temperatures have a strong north to south gradient, and a small annual cycle, being lowest around March 15, and highest around September 15. The average surface water temperature around O'ahu is 24 C (75 F) in winter and 27 C (81 F) in summer. The variations of temperature tend to parallel the island chain, i.e. surface waters are in general warmer to the west at a given latitude.
WINTER |
SPRING |
SUMMER |
FALL |
Plate 3. Average surface water temperatures for February to April ("winter", the coldest period), May to July ("spring"), August to October ("summer", the warmest period), and November to January ("fall"). Period: 1987 to 1991. Source: AVHRR weekly Multichannel Sea-Surface Temperature (MCSST) Project, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA. Units: degrees Celsius.
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