Figure 2 shows the distribution of surface temperature observed with the thermograph at 4 m of depth and Figure 3 the distribution of temperature, salinity and oxygen in the profiles worked over the shelf on the Equator and off Pte. Panga and Pointe Noire.
The main features of the hydrographic situation is similar to those observed in March 1985 with high surface temperature 28 - 28.5 C and a well developed shallow thermocline. Low salinity surface water appears in all three profiles. In the Equator profile it derives from the Gulf of Biafra brought southwards towards Cap Lopez by the shoreward branch of the South Equatorial Current, while that found in the Pointe Noire and Pte. Panga profiles derives from the discharges of the Congo which at this season is carried northwest along the Congo and Gabon coasts by the Congo Current. Turbidity in inshore waters off Pointe Noire was high.
