Biological Invasions of Cold-Water Coastal Ecosystems - Aquatic ...

Chapt 9C4. Peracaridan Crustaceans, page 9C4- 12
Degrees Celsius
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
North Latitude
6
Precip - Evap / Day
4
2
0
-2
-4
25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
North Latitude
NWA NEA NWP NEP
Figure 9C4.6. Maximum and minimum monthly sea surface temperature in degrees Celsius (A) and monthly
precipitation minus evaporation in mm d -1 (B) at ten degree latitude intervals for the northwest (dashed lines) and
northeast (solid lines) Atlantic (thin lines) and Pacific (thick lines). Northeast Pacific, northwest Pacific, northeast
Atlantic and northwest Atlantic are NEP, NWP, NEA and NWA, respectively.
Precipitation, and thus salinity in estuaries, also vary from east to west in patterns that
resemble the south to north pattern from San Francisco to Alaska. The broadest ranges of
precipitation occur in the eastern Pacific north of 35 o N. Lat. (Figure 9C4.4). The narrowest
ranges of precipitation and negative net precipitation (desert conditions) occur in the eastern
Pacific and Atlantic south of 35 o N. Lat. (Figure 9C4.4). Desert conditions do not occur at low
latitudes in the northwest Pacific and occur in the northwest Atlantic only below 30 o N (Figure