California Sea Grant College Program

There is little readily available information on when and where oceanic fronts occur off the coast of California despite their important to fisheries management, environmental monitoring, search-and-rescue operations, and underwater sound. To help fill this gap, scientists at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, together with NOAA's National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service, with support from California Sea Grant, have produced a series of monthly maps showing the locations of fronts off the California coast. They were created using remote sensing data from the GOES-10 geostationary satellite. A total of 48 frontal maps were produced on a monthly basis over the four-year period from July 2000 to June 2004.