Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. The Temperature and Salinity of the Coastal Water of the Andaman Sea

At the present time the method of calculating the salinity of the sea-water from the " halogen " content of the sample is based on the assumption that the chemical composition of the water is invariably uniform. [...] In a region such as Nankauri Harbour where there are large and extensive coral reefs the activities of the phytoplankton will be reinforced by the activities of the microscopic plants of the reefs and especially of the Zooxanthellx that exist in millions in the tissues of the corals and Alcyonacea as well as of the larger algae and plants growing on the reefs and mud-flats. [...] Flowing into the northern end of the Andaman Sea are the large and important rivers the Irrawaddi the Sitang and the Salween ; and although the area of the Burma Coast that was under survey during the years i9io-14 lay too far to the south especially during the latter part of this period to be directly affected by the influx of river-water from these sources there are at intervals along the c [...] Advantage was taken of the opportunity provided by the survey to make a more or less systematic investigation regarding the temperature and salinity of the surface water of the harbour and of the neighbouring part of the Andaman Sea and the results obtained are given in the following pages. [...] As in the case of the air-temperature it is clear that there is a distinct correltion between the three series ; the mean temperature of the surface water and the amount of the daily range of temperature rise and fall together ; the time of occurrence of the maximum daily temperature tends to be earlier in November and December that is to say during the period of the North-Fast Monsoon when