Hey guys, I know most of you have noticed that the reported temperature is not consistent with surf temperature. It's always been off.. I'm assuming the reported temperature is gathered from the offshore buoy 44009. I know for a fact that the surf temperature is much colder. We took thermo readings on assateague national side this weekend and got 58 on Saturday, 58 on Sunday, and 59 on Monday. Id like to see a more accurate reading. What can be done? Or how can we get a more accurate reading in the surf area? Most of us don't need to know the offshore buoy.. Any thoughts? Not sure if this has already been a thread..
I hear ya! Up until August, I just make sure I backpack everything... 3/2, spring, boots, gloves. Sometimes even a squid lid... You never know. The Ocean sure is taking her sweet time warming up for us. Only thing is to take a local reading, but last week the chalkboard by the guard said 60°F but it was 55° or colder.
I've been working on this very problem... Unfortunately the only way to get a true reading is to touch the water your self... To get the man power to report this for every location is not fees-able. I am currently experimenting with a Satellite dataset that reports the water temp on a 24 hour basis.. There looks to be some discrepencies with this data as well, but it should be better then what is being used now. The surf zone water temps are so variable, that it is truly a challenge. Currently, the water temp is being pulled from either a nearby coastal buoy or a global ocean temp data set. Obviously, pulling from a buoy well off the coast is not good... The new data is still being test, and will likely go live early next week.
jeez, I trunked it for at least an hour on both sunday and monday at AINP. it was cold, but i didn't realize it hadnt cracked 60 yet. i was just trying to punk my buddy. actually i had to pee, and didn't feel like suiting up for it.
.....there could be some temporary upwelling of cooler already, but its still too early to tell how warm the water will get. I'm thinking a hot summer, with warm water, and sooner rather than later.
I rely on the OC Inlet buoy and go back to the last incoming tide. I figure six hours of water rushing into OC inlet right past that station is a reasonable estimate of nearshore water temps.
You have to learn the upwelling winds for your beaches and when those winds are blowing, the water is going to be a lot colder. I surfed bareback in LB a couple mornings ago and by the afternoon with the southy winds the water was way colder.
Been trunking it in vb for the past couple weeks. Feels great. Called my buddy who was down in Corolla earlier in the week and he said it was freezing down there. Didn't make sense to me since it's only about an hour away and it's to the south. Can someone explain this to me?
I use this website for NJ water temps. It uses satellite imagery and seems pretty accurate from my experience. Plus its real easy to see on the map when upwelling is occurring. http://www.thecoolroom.org/swimmers/swim_sst.htm
Its called upwelling. We don't get much of it here in VB but on the outer banks its more prevelant. I am sure someone will come on here and give you the scientific version which i dont have time for... but basically from Corolla to Buxton if the winds blow West (in my experience its from offshore winds) for an extended period of time it holds the warmer surface water off the coast a bit and creates a current that runs 90* to the wind chruning up the colder water below. So the that warm 70* surface water drops to a 58* in 24 hours. I have been down south and surfed a fun groundswell with offshore winds at like 7mph for two days straight in boardshorts in August when tits 98* outside and the water is 78* and then hit the water early again the next day and the water temp is 58* in August from upwelling. If ya want the full version of upwelling google "coastal upwelling"
The process of upwelling occurs when the mean water transport along the coast moves away from the coast. This movement then allows colder, bottom water from offshore to move upward towards the coast. Here is a picture: The mean transport of water offshore, occurs for East Facing coasts when the wind moves South to North. A process called the Eckman Transport, describes that the mean direction of water transport will be 90 degrees to the right of the surface wind direction. So, for east facing areas, this means the water will move directly away from the coast. In contrast, if we have a North wind, the water can often warm up, as the mean water transport will be move toward the coast.
