New York bight water stratification: October 1974

Thermohaline stratification of New York Bight continental shelf water during October 1974, is basically of the summer regime. Salinity increases quite markedly with increased distance from the coast, yet a basic vertical structure is maintained: an upper isohaline layer; a salinity maximum at the top of the thermocline; a salinity minimum at the base of the thermocline; a deep isohaline layer associated with the cold near-bottom winter residual stratum; and (over the outer shelf) a bottom intrusion of relatively saline and warm slope water. Inversions in temperature and salinity are common within the thermocline. The pycnocline is continuous over the shelf and slope, though some weakening and deepening occurs over the shelf break. Over the shelf it is mainly supported by the thermocline and over the slope by the halocline. The pycnocline may not be an effective barrier to isopyncal interchange of surface and deep layers in view of the relative slope of isopycnals to pycnocline.