At the end of December there were 289 satellite-tracked drifting buoys, of which 76% had subsurface drogues intact, in operation for the WOCE/CLIVAR Surface Velocity Program in the tropical Pacific Ocean. The three major currents are all well-established, although the NEC is poorly sampled east of 130W. Tropical instability waves are active between 130W and 100W. Equatorial SST anomalies at the end of the month are generally cool (< 1 C) east of the dateline and warm (1 C) west of the dateline.

FIGURE A1.1 - Movements of drifting buoys in the tropical Pacific Ocean during December 1995. The first (second) linear segment of the trajectories represents a two (three) week displacement. Red (solid) paths show buoys drogued to 15-m depth; blue (dotted) paths show undrogued buoys.