Tropical Pacific Drifting Buoys, oct97

Tropical Pacific Drifting Buoys
M. S. Swenson / AOML, Miami

At the end of October, the number of drifting buoys reporting from the tropical Pacific was 136, of which 73% had confirmed drogues for measurement of currents. Equatorial eastward currents are still manifest between 170E and 140W, which is unusual for this time of year. The NECC is poorly-sampled west of 125W, but appear near normal to the east of 125W. There are indications that instability wave activity between near 150W. The SEC south of the equator is weak and variable. SST anomalies (SSTA) at the end of the month are warm (>1.5 C) on the equator across the whole basin.

Movements of drifting buoys in the tropical Pacific Ocean during oct97. The linear segments of each trajectory represent a two week displacement. Red paths show buoys drogued to 15-m depth; blue paths show undrogued buoys.