An investigation of seasonal upwelling along the Atlantic coast of Florida

Subsurface water temperature data are combined with time series of coastal winds and mid shelf currents to investigate seasonal upwelling in shelf waters off South Florida's Atlantic coast. Data from the summer of 1978 indicate that cool water moved onto the shelf by mid June and remained there until early September. A time series of near-bottom temperatures from inner shelf waters indicates three major periods of cooling, lasting over time intervals of from one to three weeks. Water temperatures decrease from 3° to 7°C. More transient cooling events are recorded throughout the record. The effect of up-welling is to decrease coastal water temperatures to levels characteristic of early winter or late spring.