Pacific
Region
Ocean Sciences Data
|
|
Data from BC Lighthouses
Before proceeding to use the Lighthouse Data, please read this warning.
Daily values of sea surface temperature and salinity are observed
at the current and old lighthouses around the coast of
British Columbia. A map is available
that shows the location of all of the sampling locations, and
the following list allows access to the archived values of monthly
mean temperatures and salinities and photographs of the sites. The Lester B. Pearson College
maintains a web site concerning the
Race Rocks Ecological
Reserve. Ron & Rene Amundsen live on Bonilla Island, they maintain
pages on the BC lights and the automation issue.
Here is the Graham Scholes Lighthouse Art
pages and here is the World's Lighthouses
home page.
The following lines give access to data from the Lighthouse sampling stations that are
presently active or were sampled quite recently. The icons give access to: A
photo of the site, a large file with the daily observations, monthly temperature, monthly salinity,
and averaged conditions. At the bottom of the page is an auxiliary list giving daily data
only for some sites that were sampled long ago.
The following gives access to daily observations for a few random sites for which the
time-series length is very short. None of these sites are presently being monitored,
they are included here just because they may someday be of use to someone, somewhere.
-
Bamfield Marine Station,
1969-1980 inc.
- Beaver Point, 48° 46'N
123° 22'W, 1954-1956 inc.
- East Point, 48° 47'N
123° 03'W, 1967-1968 (very spotty)
- Green Island, 54° 34'N
130° 42'W, Feb 1935 - Aug 1936
- Ivory Island, 52° 16'N
128° 24'W, August 1937 to Dec 1955
- Ladysmith Harbour, 49° 00'N
123° 49'W, 1938-1942, 1949-1957 (original data lost, monthly means saved)
- Masset (Queen
Charlotte Islands), 54° 01'N 132° 09'W, 1940-1942
- New Westminster, 49° 12'N
122° 56'W, 1927-1969 (original data lost, monthly means saved)
- Port Clements, 53° 41'N
132 11'W, 1941-1942
- Porlier Pass (at high tide),
49° 01'N 123° 35'W, 1967-1972
- Porlier Pass (at low tide),
49° 01'N 123° 35'W, 1967-1971
- Pulteney Point 50° 38'N
127° 09'W, 1954-1957
- Sandspit, 53° 15'N
131° 49'W, 1953-1956
- Shannon Bay, 53° 39'N
132° 30'W, 1940-41
- Stuart Island, 50° 24'N
125° 08'W, 1950-51 (original data lost, monthly means saved)
- Texada Island, 49° 42'N
124° 33'W, 1953-1956 (original data lost, monthly means saved)
- Triple Island, 54° 18'N
130° 53'W, 1939-1970
- Whiterock, 49° 01'N
122° 48'W, June 1954 - June 1956 (original data lost, monthly means saved)
- Yuculta Landing (Stuart Island),
Oct 1950-Sept 1951
Top of page
The daily sampling strategy at the BC Lighthouse Stations was designed long ago by
Dr. John P. Tully. We have chosen not to change the strategy in the interests of a
homogeneous data set. Sampling occurs at or near the daytime high tide. This means,
for example, that if an observer starts sampling one day at 6 a.m., and continues
to sample at the daytime hightide, as instructed, then on the 2nd day he/she will
take samples at about 06:50 the next day, 07:40 the day after etc. When the daytime
high tide gets close to 6 p.m. then it snaps back to 6 a.m. and the cycle starts again.
Since there is a diurnal signal in sea-surface temperature the sampling creates a
14-day signal as an artifact.
If anyone uses these data to publish a seminal paper on the 14-day temperature
oscillations around the coast of BC, rest assured that a rebuttal will be in the press.
These pages were created for viewing with Microsoft Internet Explorer v 5.5
(they may not appear as intended under other viewers).
Top of page
|