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You claim no one has answered your question, members have been generous giving you information.
You created 3 threads here that have been merged there is no reason for members to be subjected to
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Originally Posted by Hudlander
Yes, and nobody has ever answered it. If they did, I would not ask.
Now please....why is it that there is a 25 degree water temp difference?
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Originally Posted by Bill Hitchcock
May this will help. It's an image from November 1, 2010. Take a look at Hatteras Island. Notice the multitude of colors, or rather wide range of temperatures that come on to the beach.
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Originally Posted by box_of_zip_disks
The surface topography in VA Beach isn't the same as Nags Head which in turn isn't the same as Hatteras, along with the location of the major warm and cold water currents. Temperature flow in water isn't uniform, especially when you're dealing with differing surfaces, which in turn affect salinity and other particle density, along with differing sand types along each beach. So even with the upwelling effect from winds (and winds along VA Beach also aren't the same as those along the OBX owing to land topography, structures, etc.), the rate of flow of colder deep water won't be the same, even within the relatively narrow temperature range you find from VA Beach to OBX.
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Originally Posted by macjr82
I belive it's already being answered but it has more to do with the fact that the area is a mixing bowl where two currents meets and it draws up cold water from deeper underwater to the surface aka "upwelling"
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Originally Posted by Hudlander
My educated guess to all of these are that the OBX, being a barrier island well of the mainland (unlike NJ barrier islands), have much less of a continental shelf, thus when there are SW directional winds, there is less warm, shallow water to replace the top water which is blown away, AND the Northern OBX are closer to the labrador current eddies, hence why they are quite colder (they also do not have the warming effect of the inlet water being dumped in, as the southern OBX do).
Further, when upwelling happens, the deeper, colder water is darker in complexion.
So basically, the OBX, particular in the north, is much more vulnerable to upwelling, it is almost a unique trait of the OBX compared to the other beaches in the Atlantic, due to it being a far out barrier island without much of a continental shelf near the gulf and labrador streams (which have different colors).
Also, this is more likely in July than August because by August, even with a SW directional wind, the water has warmed up enough to the point where the "chilling" cold water from upwelling is moderated.
Last edited by SunnyKayak; 11-19-2011 at 07:10 AM..
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