Tropical Pacific Drifting Buoys
Rick Lumpkin / Mayra Pazos, AOML, Miami
MAY 2014
During May 2014, 272 satellite-tracked surface drifting buoys, 86% with
subsurface drogues attached for measuring mixed layer currents, were reporting
from the tropical Pacific. Similar to the pattern seen in April, strong
eastward anomalies of 30-60 cm/s were present at 100-120W in the latitude band
2S-6N, with the strongest anomalies at 3-4N. Not enough drifters were located
in the western near-equatorial Pacific to determine the zonal extent of these
anomalies. At higher latitudes, currents were near their climatological May
strengths.

FIGURE A1.1
a) Top: Movements of drifting buoys in the tropical Pacific Ocean.
The linear segments of each trajectory represent a one week displacement.
Trajectories of buoys which have lost their subsurface drogues are gray; those with
drogues are blue.
b) Middle: Monthly mean currents calculated from all buoys 1993-2010 (gray),
and currents measured by the drogued buoys this month (black) smoothed by an
optimal filter.
c) Bottom: Anomalies from the climatological monthly mean currents for this month.
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