1. “Interpretation of the June 2008 conditions along California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) Line-67 by using Climatology”
One picture 1000 words…
Presented by: Alevras Dimitris

2. Outline
♦ Introduction
♦ Methods / Cruise Data
♦ Climate Conditions
♦ Cruise Results / Discussion
♦ Conclusions

3. ♦ Before the goal was achieved, however, the sardines vanished
Introduction
♦ In the late 1940s following heavy fishing during WW II, sardine landings in CA
were declining and the
- California Division of Fish and Game,
- California Academy of the Sciences,
- Scripps Institute of Oceanography and the
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
joined forces to develop the California Cooperative Sardine Research Program.
♦ The goal was to understand the physical and biological components of the
marine ecosystem as they affected sardine stocks.
♦ Before the goal was achieved, however, the sardines vanished
♦ In 1953 the program was scaled-back and renamed the
“California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations” (CalCOFI) program

4. Introduction
♦ The “California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations” (CalCOFI) program
conducts quarterly survey cruises on a fixed station grid
♦ CalCOFI Line 67

5. Introduction 14 13 12 1 1 3 2 2 3 4 5 4 6 7 8 5 9 6 10 7 11
CTD
XBT

6. Methods / Data ♦ Data: ♦ Plots: ♦ Methods:
(1) Wind field data (Speed / Direction)
(2) CTD and ADCP data acquired along CalCOFI Line-67 aboard the R/V POINT SUR
(3) Climatology data from NOAA & PACific Ocean Observing System
♦ Plots:
Wind field plots (Speed/ Direction)
(2) T-S Diagrams
(3) Diagrams of Salinity & Temperature by using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) (or Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD)).
(4) Geostrophic Velocity plots
(5) Plots of Density Anomaly – Temperature – Salinity – Dissolved Oxygen Distributions
♦ Methods:
(1) Data were acquired at each station using a Sea-Bird Electronics, Inc.CTD, which provided continuous measurements of conductivity (salinity), temperature and pressure.
(2) MATLAB functions for the above plots were created by the Oceanography Department of NPS

7. ♦ Temperature and Salinity:
Climate Conditions
♦ Temperature and Salinity:
Temperature and salinity through June 08 was colder than any summer since CTD
data collection began in 1997; given the strong winds observed, we had one of the
coldest summer since at least 1997
♦ Upwelling Index (UI):
The monthly coastal upwelling index showed upwelling favorable conditions between
24°- 42°N
♦ El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO):
A transition period from La Nina to ENSO during June neutral conditions

8. Climate Conditions – Temperature & Salinity
T – S Diagram at Newport, Oregon
Jun 2008
♦ Temperature at the M1 Mooring, Monterey Bay during last June was very cold
♦ Temperature and salinity through June 08 averages 7.31 and respectively
which is colder than any summer since the group began taking CTD data in
1997

9. Climate Conditions – Temperature & Salinity

10. Climate Conditions – Upwelling Index (UI)
♦ - Solid black lines denote the daily UI
- Dashed curve is a biharmonic fit to
the daily UIs for
- Blue shaded area denotes one
standard error
- Yellow bars denote monthly mean
of UI based on the daily values.
- Units are metric tons / sec / 100 m of
coastline OR cubic meters / sec / 100 m of coastline
♦ Strong southeastward, upwelling favorable, wind stress occurred along the
coast in the area of interest.

11. Climate Conditions – El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
Upper-Ocean Conditions
in the Equatorial Pacific
Oceanic Nino Index vs. time
Upper-Ocean Heat Anomaly
(in degrees C)
Thermocline Slope Index (in m)
♦ Oceanic Niño Index (ONI) is
based on SST departures from
average in the Niño 3.4 region,
and is a principal measure for
monitoring, assessing, and
predicting ENSO
♦ The monthly thermocline slope
index represents the difference
in anomalous depth of the 20ºC
isotherm between the W Pacific
and the E Pacific

12. Climate Conditions – El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
Upper-Ocean Conditions
in the Equatorial Pacific
♦ NOAA Operational Definitions
for El Niño and La Niña
El Niño: positive ONI greater
than or equal to +0.5°C
La Niña: negative ONI less
than or equal to -0.5°C

13. Climate Conditions – El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
Upper-Ocean Conditions
in the Equatorial Pacific
♦ By comparing top 2 panels we
can observe:
- heat anomalies are greater
prior to and during the early
stages of a Pacific warm (El
Niño) episode
- heat anomalies are least prior
to and during the early stages
of a cold (La Niña) episode

14. Climate Conditions – El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
Upper-Ocean Conditions
in the Equatorial Pacific
♦ By comparing the first and the
third panels we can observe:
- The slope of the oceanic
thermocline is least during
warm episodes
- The slope of the oceanic
thermocline is greatest during
cold episodes

15. Climate Conditions – El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
Upper-Ocean Conditions
in the Equatorial Pacific
♦ Current values of the upper-
ocean heat anomalies (slightly
positive) and the thermocline
slope index (near zero) indicate
ENSO-neutral conditions

16. Cruise Results – Winds Data
♦ The strong SEward winds are
consistent with the climate
conditions (Strong SEward,
upwelling favorable, wind stress)

17. Cruise Results – Temperature / Salinity
Principal component analysis (PCA) or proper orthogonal decomposition (POD).
Salinity first & second principal components
♦ Sal.: %
Temp.: 64.9%
♦ The PC amplitudes
are consistent with
the climate conditions
(one of the coldest
summer)
Temperature first & second principal components

18. Cruise Results – Geostrophic Velocity
♦ By using the following relations we evaluate
the geostrophic velocity:
L: is the distance between CTD stations
δ: is the specific volume anomaly
ΔΦ: is the geopotential anomaly CC
♦ Red region: California Under Current
(CUC)
Blue region: California Current (CC)
CUC
♦ The geostrophic velocity plot is consistent
with the climate conditions (Strong
Upwelling) but the location of the California
Current is closer to the shore)

19. Cruise Results – T-S Diagrams
♦ Cooler, saline, surface water most likely associated with coastal upwelling
♦ The equatorward flow of cool, fresh, arctic waters characterizes the California
Current
♦ There is a distinct separation between two water masses. The cool, fresher
waters of the California Current can be distinguished from the warmer, saline
waters of the California Undercurrent. This separation becomes apparent below
~100 dbar (or ~100 C).

20. Cruise Results – Temperature / Salinity Anomalies
♦ Cooler, saline, surface water
most likely associated with
coastal upwelling
♦ The equatorward flow of cool,
fresh, arctic waters
characterizes the CC
♦ Well mixing conditions due to
the strong winds
♦ All plots are consistent with the
climate conditions
(Strong Upwelling)
♦ The location of the CC is closer to the shore

21. Cruise Results – Dens. Anom. / Dissolved Ox. / Salinity / Temp
Deep water measurements
Shallow water measurements
♦ Cooler, saline, surface water most likely associated with coastal upwelling
♦ The equatorward flow of cool, fresh, arctic waters characterizes the CC
♦ Well mixing conditions due to the strong winds
♦ All plots are consistent with the climate conditions (Strong Upwelling)
♦ The location of the CC is closer to the shore

22. Conclusions
♦ The CTD data and the geostrophic velocity field were in general agreement
♦ All cruise data showed that due to the strong winds, we had well mixing conditions
and one of the coldest summer
♦ The location of the California Current and the California Under Current was evident
at cruise data
♦ All cruise data were in agreement that we had upwelling favorable conditions
♦ With the exception of the cold SST and the location of the CC, generally, the cruise
data were consistent with the Climate Conditions.

23. Bibliography
♦ Collins, C.A., R.G. Paquette and S.R. Ramp, 1996b. Annual Variability of ocean
currents at 350 m depth over the continental slope off Point Sur, California. CalCOFI
rep., 37,
♦ Hickey, B., .Coastal Oceanography of Western North America from the Tip of Baja
California to Vancouver Island; Coastal Segment. in The Sea, Robinson, A.R., and
Brink, K. H., pp 12,947-12,966, 1998.
♦ Graphs of Upwelling Indices over the last 18 months ( products/PFEL/modeled/indices/upwelling/NA/daily_upwell_graphs.html)
♦ Lynn, R.J., and J.J. Simpson, The California Current System: The seasonal
variability of its physical characteristics, J. Geophys. Res., 92, 12,947-12,966
♦ Neander D.O. (LCDR, NOAA), 2001The California Current System: Comparison of Geostrophic Currents, ADCP Currents and Satellite Altimetry
♦ Pacific Coast Ocean Observing System,2008/Climatic and Ecological Conditions in the California Current LME for April to June 2008 / (
♦ Pennington J.T., Michisaki R., Johnston D., Chavez F.P., Ocean observing in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary: CalCOFI and the MBARI time series
A Report to the Sanctuary Integrated Monitoring Network (SIMoN), March 7, 2007
♦ Pickard, G.L., and W.J. Emery, Descriptive Physical Oceanography; An
Introduction, 5th Ed., pp 64-65, Butterworth/Heinemann.

24. Questions