Publication Date

7-1999

Series Number

111

Publisher

Fisheries Western Australia

City

Perth

ISBN

0 7309 8422 2

ISSN

1035 - 4549

Abstract

Analysis of temperature data from coastal waters between Shark Bay and Cape Mentelle has shown the main features of temporal and spatial variability in temperature along the Western Australian coastline. Three distinct periods of variability emerge: the annual cycle (peak temperatures generally in January-February and troughs in July-August), a few-day (weatherrelated) cycle, and the diurnal pattern.

Summer temperatures range from 24° C (South Passage) to 19° C (Cape Mentelle), and winter temperatures from 21° C (South Passage) to 16° C (Marmion). Mean annual temperature ranges (winter minimum to summer maximum) are between 3° C (South Passage) and 7° C (Alkimos), these differences being interpreted in terms of varying cross-shelf water exchange with the Leeuwin Current. The overall along-shore temperature gradient is about 0.4° C per degree latitude. The few-day cycle has a typical range of 1° to 2° C. The mean diurnal temperature range varies from about 0.2° C (deep offshore site) to as much as 1.7° C (some inshore sites during mid-summer).

Some applications of these data to the western rock lobster industry, marine aquaculture and satellite remote sensing are briefly explored. Short-term temperature changes are generally less than about 0.2° C/hour, but at some sites the daily variation can be as much as 3° C over a 12-hour period.

Number of Pages

45

Keywords

Shark Bay, Cape Mentelle, climate, Western Rock Lobster, Leeuwin Current

Disciplines

Aquaculture and Fisheries | Climate | Environmental Sciences | Oceanography

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