Multidecadal Trends in Atmospheric and Ocean Conditions in Offshore Waters Near Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Abstract

Abstract Climate change is influencing the ocean environment in myriad ways and many of its effects can directly or indirectly impact coastal ecosystems. In this study, I analyzed data for a number of variables describing atmospheric and ocean conditions (AOC) from a National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data buoy located near the Cape Cod, MA, peninsula. The data suggest that a number of significant trends have occurred during the period of data collection spanning 1982–2015. Changes include up to a 2 °C and 3 °C warming of air and water temperatures in summer, reduced barometric pressure in the summer/fall, declining wind speeds in the spring, shorter average wave-periods in the winter and spring, a clockwise change in wind direction in the summer, and increased wave heights in the summer and fall. The AOC variables also exhibited a number of relationships with each other, which helped explain some mechanisms of change. With the exception of barometric pressure and fall wave-heigh...