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Ecosystems Dynamics & Assessment : Current Conditions (Spring 2018)

Spring Temperature from the Survey

The thermal conditions at the bottom of the water column are extremely important in defining the habitats for the majority of resource species. Unlike sea surface temperatures that can be measured synoptically with satellite telemetry, bottom temperatures must be measured directly from ship surveys and other means. Thus, we often have incomplete spatial and temporal sample coverage to describe bottom temperature conditions. Recently, scientists at the NEFSC developed an interpolation approach that provides a more accurate depiction of spring and fall bottom temperatures. The time series of April time frame temperatures suggest there has been some degree of warming in the northern ecoregions; the only ecoregion without a significant time series trend was the Middle Atlantic Bight (see figure; red dashed line marks 2017 data point).