Seasonal structure of the Gulf of St. Lawrence upper-layer thermohaline fields during the ice-free months

The interactions between the atmosphere and the oceans play a critical role in determining our climate. These generally consist of various exchanges of heat, mass and momentum between the two media through the air-sea interface. Therefore, the physical state of the upper few meters of the oceans influences the rate at which these exchanges take place. Furthermore, these surface waters are of importance in affecting the primary biological production of the seas. In this context, knowledge of the upper-layer monthly averaged thermohaline state, i.e. temperature (T) and salinity (S) as a function of latitude-longitude and depth, is necessary for further climatological/oceanographic studies in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (GSL). The primary goal of this research is to produce, using basic statistical analyses, monthly mean fields of T and S related quantities at various depths throughout the GSL. The historical hydrographic dataset covers the last 75 years.Objective fields of sea surface temperature (SST), salinity (SSS) and chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) were also computed and compared with other similar climatologies (when available). (Abstract shortened by UMI.