Providing near real-time sea surface temperatures to the California north coast fishing fleet: An approach

A detailed knowledge of sea-surface thermal patterns in near real-time would provide west coast fishermen with the means to locate areas favorable for catching albacore and salmon. This information can be provided through the use of infrared imagery presently available from NOAA´s ITOS series satellite, NOAA-3. These infrared data can be enhanced to display sea-surface thermal fronts when present. Frontal contours can then be projected onto standard navigation charts and the results transmitted to the fleet. The 1975 fishing season has been chosen as a trial period to test this approach. Feedback from the user community will be necessary to refine and improve these procedures.