NOAA Technical Report NMFS SSRF- 718

Surface Currents as Determined by Drift Card Releases Over the Continental Shelf Off Central and Southern California James l. Squire, Jr.

December 1977

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service

National Marine Fisheries Service, Special Scientific Report-Fi.heri_

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ff)(i . A fr.>, h"'.H d fish elel'lro · mot iva tnr I FFE:\1 ),its characteristics and "perd'",n . H\ .la me, E Elli , and C'harie, C. Hoopes. November 1972, iii + I I p .. ~ fig''' .

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l;'i7 .-\n anal" .. i .. of the commerci81 lobater (Homanu ammCGIIUI fi sh .. " a lonK t he coast "fM8inl' . Augu8tl966through o.c.mlM!r 1970.! .Iam~' C' Thr'mas .. June 19'73. v + 5i p .. 18fi .... 11 tabl •. For aa1e bytli .";urerint~nd~nt of Documl'nts . l' .S. Government Printi", 0IIi0 Wa,hingt"n. D.C. 20402.

t;';'~ . An annotated bibli~aphy of the cunner. TautogolDbrw iUUpera I \\' ilbaum I Bv Fredric M . Serchuk and David W. Frame. May 1973. ii · 4:1 p Fllr ,ale by the Superintendent of Documenta. U.S. Govem_ Printin~ Offire. Washington. D.C . 20402.

669 . Suhpoint prediction for direct readout meurological Mullitea. I! L. E. Ehn Au!(ust 19i3. iii + 7 p .. 2 fi .... \ tabl • . For .. Ie by d Superintendent of Documents. U.S. Government PrintillJ 0ffiD Was hington. D.C. 2Q402.

1i'0. l 'nharvested fishes in the U.S. commercial r18hery of_tern !AI Erie in 1969. By Harry D. Van Meter. July 1973. iii + 11 p .• 61ip.. tables , For s81e by the Superintendent of Documents. U.S. GovenuDII Printing Office. Washington. D.C. 20402.

6i1. Coastal upwelling indices. west coast of North America. 1!N6-7 By Andrew Bakun. June 1973. iv + 103 p .. 6 fi .... 3 tabl •• 4S app. iii For s81e by the Superintendl'nt of Documents. U.S. GovemmeDt PriIIIiI Office, Washington. D .C. 20402.

Cnntinut"d ('tn in~id(" back ('over

NOAA Technical Report NMFS SSRF- 718

Su·rface Currents as Determined by Drift Card Releases Over the Continental Shelf Off Central and Southern California

James L. Squire, Jr.

December 1977

u.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Juanita M. Kreps. Secretary

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Richard A. Frank. Administrator

National Marine Fisheries Service Robert W. Schoning. Director

The National Marine Fllheriu Service (NMFS) doe. not approve, ne­ommenrl or endorse any proprietary product or proprietary material mentioned in thll publication. No l'f!fel'f!nce &hall be made to NMFS, or to thil publication furnilhed by N~IFS, In any advert!.!n. or aalea pro­motion which would indicate or imply that N~IFS approve., recommenda or endorses an)· proprietary product or proprietary material mentioned hel'f!in, or ..... hich hl.1 as it. pUl"poae an intent to cauae directly or Indirectly the Idvertiaed product to be uaed or pun:haaed becauae of thl. NMFS publication.

Introduction Methods .. Results ... Discussion and conclusions Acknowledgments Literature cited . . . . . .

CONTENTS

Figures

1. Drift card release and recovery points off the central area of southern California 2. Drift card release and recovery points off southern California . . . . . . . . .

III

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11 11 12 12

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Surface Currents as Determined by Drift Card Releases Over the Continental Shelf Off

Central and Southern California JAMES L. SQUIRE, Jr.l

ABSTRACT

During March 196f through February 1966. 8.320 plastic drift cards were released at selected points from an aircraft to measure surface current drift over two areas: from the coast to about 48 n.mi. off central California between Point Arena and Point Sur; and from the coast to about 90 n.mi. off southern California between Point ArgueUo and Punta Salsipuedes. Baja California. Mexico. The recovery rate was 3.5% in the central area and 5.7% in the southern area. An average 79.4% of the recoveries were found within 2 wk foUowing the date of release. Results lend support to studies con­cluded by earlier investigators. The distribution of the directions from which drift cards were re­turned increased the evidence for the presence of an eddy off the coast between San Francisco and Monterey Bay during May through July. and of the large gyre and associated southern California countercurrent south of Point Conception during April through August and to a lesser extent in Oc­tober and December.

INTRODUCTION

Dispersal and survival of the planktonic eggs and larvae of marine fishes in the ocean euphotic zone is affected by surface currents. The purpose of this study was to develop additional information on the drift patterns to which surface planktonic forms are subjected over the continental shelf of the west coast of the United States. The general direction of surface drift was deter­mined and is compared with wind velocity during the survey period to expose any general relationship between wind direction and inshore surface currents. Johnson and Squire (1970) published the results found along the northwestern coast of the United States. This paper covers the central area from Point Arena to Point Sur. Calif., and the southern area from Point Arguello, Calif., to Punta Salsipuedes, Baja California, Mexico.

Field work for the study was carried out concurrently with an airborne infrared sea surface temperature survey of the continental shelf conducted with the cooperation of the U.S. Coast Guard (Squire 1971).

Increased interest in coastal surface currents as they may pertain to the drift of surface pollutants, such as petroleum, has prompted the documentation of this drift study.

METHODS

Talbot (1964) showed that specially prepared drift bottles could be successfully dropped from an aircraft; however, drift cards were chosen for this study due to the

'Southwest Fisheries Center La Jolla Laboratory, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, La Jolla, CA 92038.

ease of handling and the limited space available in the aircraft. The individual drift cards are identical to those described by Johnson and Squire (1970) and were a 4 X

5 1/ 4 -in, numbered, postage paid, self-addressed, fluores­cent red postcard. A plain fluorescent red card was used as backing, and both were sealed in a clear plastic envelope with a steel washer as ballast. This study was conducted from March 1964 through February 1966, dur­ing which period 16 drift card releases were made off southern California and central California. From March 1964 through February 1965, airborne releases of drift cards were made once each 3 mo. Beginning in March 1965 and continuing until the end of the study, the fre­quency of drift card releases increased to one per month. Ten cards were released at each drop station.

The U.S. Coast Guard aircraft were flown at an average altitude of 500 ft over a prescribed pattern cover­ing the central area to about 48 n.mi. offshore and the southern area to about 90 n.mi. offshore. Twenty-five release stations were located on the flight transects over the central area, and 27 release stations over the southern area. Dead-reckoning techniques, aided by the aircraft's tacan, loran, and radar navigation equipment were used to locate release points.

For visual comparison of wind direction, average wind speed, and the direction of surface drift, a wind rose sym­bol developed by Tabata (1961) was used on each drift chart (Figs. 1, 2). The symbols give the percent frequen­cies for the prevailing winds and calms (wind velocity 1 kn) based on eight points of the compass and the average wind speed in knots for a 2-wk period-l wk before re­lease and 1 wk after (drift cards were released on the last day of the first week of the 2-wk period). Wind data were obtained for geographical locations as near the

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10

center of each survey area as possible. Data for the cen­ttal area was obtained for the U.S. Coast Guard Farallon

. Iilaiid Light Station, 28 mi west of the entrance to San Francisco Bay, and in the southern area for the U.S. Navy San Clemente Island Naval Air Station. These data were made available by the National Weather Records Center, Asheville, N.C.

RESULTS

Of the 8,320 cards released over both study areas, 4.5% (377) were recovered. This recovery rate compares closely with those found by previous investigators using drift bottles and drift cards along the west coast of the United States (Tibby 1939; Schwartzlose 1964) and near Hawaii

. (Barkley et a1. 1964). In the central area, 3.5% of the cards were returned, whereas 5.7% of the cards were recovered in the southern area. An average 59.8% of all cards recovered were found within 1 wk following the date of release, and 79.4% were found within 2 wk. The percentage of recoveries made during the first week after the drop in the central area was 72.1%, and in the southern area 52.7%, By the end of 2 wk, the percentage of recoveries in the central area was 86.8% and in the southern area 75.1%.

Charts (Fig. 1a to 1h central area, Fig. 2a to 2j southern area) giving the date and location of release and recovery and the average wind velocity were prepared for e~ch quarterly and monthly drifter releases. The average wind speed was derived by averaging all values recorded during the 2-wk period. The rate of drift and trajectory of the card cannot be determined from the recoveries because of the lack of information between time of release and recovery. Original data to determine the time between release and recovery is not available. No recoveries were made and no charts were drawn for southern area releases in November and December 1965· and January and February 1966; nor for the central area during January 1966.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

The patterns of current flow associated with the Cali­fornia Current along the North American west coast have been examined by a number of scientists (e.g., Tibby 1939; Sverdrup et al. 1942; Reid et al. 1958; Burt and Wyatt 1964; Schwartzlose 1964; Tully 1964). We would expect the surface drift in the nearshore areas generally to be in agreement with the findings of these scientists.

Drift card recovery rates probably bear a relationship to the amount of shore activity by people. Many areas of the coast in the central area are rocky and not easily accessible. This, and the fact that the coastal population is small, would account for reduced returns when com­pared with southern California. The southern California coast is easily accessible, except for the island areas, and there is a high population level along most of the coast and from this a higher recovery rate would be expected. . Most of the recoveries in the central area were from drop stations relatively close to shore. Only three

11

recoveries were from the line of drop stations located about 25 mi offshore, and none were recovered from the outer line of stations, about 50 mi offshore.

Southern California recoveries were mostly from stations near the coast, between the coast and Catalina, and the Santa Barbara Channel Islands; few recoveries were from the offshore drop stations.

Drift cards recovered along the coasts of central and southern California gave evidence of some surface drift toward the east and/or southeast through most of the year. Only in December 1966 did neither area have at least one return from either direction. Five of the 15 mo in the central area and 6 of the 12 mo in the southern area had a significantly greater proportion of the recoveries from the east and/or southeast than from all other direc­tions combined.

Off the central area, little evidence of a strong David­son Current can be observed along the open coast during the late fall, winter, or early spring months [Fig. la, lc (March), 19 (November), 1h (December, February)] . Only in December 1964 (Fig. 1c) does evidence of the coastal countercurrent exist, with recoveries from off Bodega Bay from drift cards dropped near the San Fran­cisco light vessel. Schwartzlose (1964) had indications from his work that an eddy flowed counterclockwise dur­ing the summer between San Francisco and the north edge of Monterey Bay. In July 1965 (Fig. Ie) , off Half­moon Bay and south of Point Reyes, some of the recoveries indicated a northward flowing coastal current during this period. During the remainder of the year, most of the recoveries showed drift to the east and/or southeast.

In the southern area between Point Conception and northern Baja California, an average 69% of the drift cards recovered had moved in an east and/or southeast direction. These observations reflect the combined in­fluence of northwest winds and the relatively permanent southerly flowing current reported by Schwartzlose (1964) off the southern California and Baja California coasts.

Evidence for the gyre south off southern California was found during the late spring and summer (Fig. 2b, 2e, 2h, 2i). Some of the returns from coastal areas were recovered northeast to northwest of release points and these recoveries were most evident along the coast from San Diego northward and offshore to the San Clemente and Catalim~ Islands and the Los Angeles area. During these months Tibby (1939) reported that south flowing offshore currents return along shore as the north flowing Southern California Countercurrent. Forty percent of the returns from the August 1965 (Fig. 2i) releases drifted north or northwest nearly 90° from the prevailing winds flowing toward the east-northeast. Returns from the December 1964 (Fig. 2c) drift cards lend support to the conclusion by Reid et al. (1958), that the northerly flow ­ing countercurrent associated with the large eddy off southern California is present in some measure through the late fall and winter.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I thank Stuart N. Luttich, Gerald B. Talbot, and Sven I. Joh...,son for assistance in the study and to express appreciation to the U.S. Coast Guard Air Stations at San Francisco and San Diego, Calif. , whose cooperation helped make this study possible.

LITERATURE CITED

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12

SCHW ARTZLOSE, R. A. 1964. Nearshore currents of the western United States and Baja

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