Horizontal wave number spectra of temperature in the unstably stratified oceanic surface layer were determined from measurements on a bow boom at a depth of 2 m. Spectra were estimated in the wavelength band from 2 m to 2 km, normalized in accordance with Monin-Obukhov similarity theory, and averaged in groups with similar stability parameter and fractional mixed layer depth. The shapes of the wave number-weighted oceanic spectra agree qualitatively with observed and modeled atmospheric spectra, including the wavelength of the peaks and the variation of peak wave number with stability. However, the peak spectral levels disagree by as much as a factor of two and the variation of spectral level with stability is in the opposite sense for the oceanic and atmospheric spectra. The wave number of the peak in the near neutral oceanic spectrum is similar to the wave number of the peak in the longitudinal velocity spectrum observed in the atmospheric surface layer, which is consistent with temperature acting as a passive tracer in near neutral conditions. The wave number of the peak in the free convection oceanic spectrum is similar to the wave number of the peak in the spectrum of vertical velocity observed in the atmospheric surface layer during free convection, which reflects the dynamical role played by temperature in a freely convecting boundary layer. The difference between oceanic and modeled near-neutral spectral levels at a wavelength of 2 m suggests that dissipation could be enhanced (up to a factor of three) by surface wave breaking. ¿ 2001 American Geophysical Union