Tropical Pacific Drifting Buoys
D. Hansen / AOML, Miami
At the end of January, the number of drifting buoys reporting from the
tropical Pacific had declined to 200, of which only 65 percent had
confirmed drogues. Coverage is particularly sparse over near-Equatorial
regions of the east and central Pacific, but such information as is
available suggests that the SEC and NECC are both relatively weak. At
the end of the month the Equatorial jet in the western Pacific appears
to have faded. The currents in subtropical regions are
characteristically weak and variable, but with an eastward bias north
of about 20N. SST anomalies feature a horseshoe-shaped band of
anomalies about +2C extending from near Easter Is. northwestward to
Nauru, thence northeastward to the coast of Mexico. Elsewhere SST
anomalies are mostly 0 to -1C.
Movements of drifting buoys in the tropical Pacific Ocean during
January 1997. The linear segments of each trajectory represent a
two/three week displacement. Red paths show buoys drogued to 15-m
depth; blue paths show undrogued buoys.