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Appendix 1: Outside Contributions

Sea Surface Temperature and Sea Level From Eastern Pacific GOES Stations

David B. EnField, NOAA/AOML
Instituto Oceanografico de la Armada Guayaquil, Ecuador
Direccion de Hodrografia y Navigacion de la Marina, Callao, PERU

APRIL 2008

Through cooperative arrangements with South American institutions, the TOGA program has maintained a network of nine tide stations and four meteorological stations in Ecuador, Peru and Chile since the mid 1980's. The stations are maintained by NOAA/AOML and the University of Hawaii. The hourly data are transmitted to down-link stations via the GOES satellite in real time and processed. The five-day averages (pentads) at critical stations give us an effective means of monitoring coastal conditions with good time resolution and compact data volume.

SST and sea levels in the eastern Pacific have been fluctuating wildly back and forth throughout the first months of 2008, reflecting a higher than normal amount of intraseasonal variability. Values are currently slightly above normal and the fluctuations appear to be moderating. The indications are consistent with the east Pacific being in a transition (neutral) phase over the next few months of the austral winter.

Day of   Sea Sfc Temperature    Sea Level Height (cm)
 Apr     Baltra Talara Callao   Baltra Libertad Callao
------   ------ ------ ------   ------  ------  ------
   3       **    24.5   16.0       **      **    107.2
   8       **    19.2   15.3       **      **    108.2
  13       **    18.2   16.6       **      **    112.4
  18       **    20.4   16.9       **      **    119.1
  23       **    22.2   17.2       **      **    116.6
  28       **    21.9   16.1       **      **    115.1

                       Anomalies
   3       **     4.1   -1.8       **      **     -7.4
   8       **    -1.0   -2.4       **      **     -6.4
  13       **    -1.8   -1.0       **      **     -2.1
  18       **     0.6   -0.7       **      **      4.7
  23       **     2.5   -0.3       **      **      2.4
  28       **     2.3   -1.3       **      **      1.1

For further information contact David.Enfield@noaa.gov
 or go to http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/epac/
 ** - Data missing due to hardware failure

FIGURE A1.5 Five-day averages of Sea Surface Temperature (SST, C) and Sea Level Height (SLH, cm) from GOES receiving stations in Ecuador and Peru. Dashed line and shading show climatology departures.


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