Note on sea temperatures in the English Channel, 1921 to 1949, and Plymouth sunshine and light

Abstract

International hydrographic station England no. 1 (EI) has been visited regularly for many years, and since 1921 the periods have been (nominally) once a month, or more frequently. Much work has been done on the plankton and chemical changes in the water, but no biological use has been made of the temperature-depth observations, which are primarily of hydrographic importance. The aim of this paper is to render the sea-temperature observations over this long period readily available and to place beside them observations on air temperature, sunshine and light. Such comparisons may be expected to give information upon the causes of variations in temperature, but the adequate investigation of this very difficult problem is outside the scope of this note. The subject is worthy of fuller treatment on the lines suggested by Harvey (1925), based on data for the years 1921 to 1924, and has been considered on broad lines by Sverdrup, Johnson and Fleming (1942).