Sea Temp

[PaddyB]

I know it might not be the accurate measure in the world, but according to the Magic Seaweed website, the current sea temp around the country looks to be warmer than it was at the same time last year. I save the sea temp image from that site at least once a week, so im not talking about a one off measure, all winter the sea around our coast just didnt get as cold as it did last year. (According to that site)

I wonder what effect this will have on the fishing this coming season

[hugo]

Noticed that too on this site: http://www.marine.ie/home/publicationsd ... ons.htm#M4
Temp was hovering not far from 10C even through the arctic cold period we had, and I think it usually went well below 8C in previous winters. Suppose we might get more exotic visitors in summer, but it could drive other species further north. Didnt the mackeral end up in Iceland last year?

[Pat]

Here's a bit of info from the weather buoys along the south coast for the last week in March over the last 4 years:

..........................M3 (Off Mizen) M5 (Off Hook)

March 2008................9.8c................8.2c

March 2009...............10.4c...............8.7c

March 2010...............10.7c...............8.7c

March 2011...............10.9c...............9.3c

[corney]

Could be a conspiracy ask Jim Corr

[yngkmd]

maybe that global warming they have been banging on about for the last 20 years is finally kicking in

hopefully it will bring some better weather with it and all

[hugo]

A full 1C rise in three years (Pat's figures) is a bit strange tho. If that rate was to continue, the Atlantic would be at boiling point in 300 years....

[Pat]

I wouldn't look too closely into that. The general water temps out at sea off the south coast were exceptionally cold that year. The point i'm making is that eventhough the temps are up on last year they are only up a fraction of a degree. What's making a big difference is that the inshore waters (first few hundred yards) are not as cold. 2009 & 2010 both had exceptionally long & hard frosts which brought the inshore temps way down.

[clewbayangler]

Here's a bit of info from the weather buoys along the south coast for the last week in March over the last 4 years:

..........................M3 (Off Mizen) M5 (Off Hook)

March 2008................9.8c................8.2c

March 2009...............10.4c...............8.7c

March 2010...............10.7c...............8.7c

March 2011...............10.9c...............9.3c

Thants a nice upward trend in sea temps. What the Marine institute weather buoys and magicseaweed give us is the sea surface temperature. The main driver of surface water temperature in the North Atlantic in winter is wind mixing. In years with high winds/strong storms there is a high level of mixing of surface waters and waters from depth. The deeper water is colder on average over the winter. This is also the driver for the early season plankton blooms off the west/south/north coasts. Strong winds drive up nutrient rich water and mix it at the surface, feeding the phytoplankton.