Tropical Pacific Drifting Buoys
Rick Lumpkin / Mayra Pazos, AOML, Miami
JULY 2018
During July 2018, 255 satellite-tracked surface drifting buoys were reporting
from the tropical Pacific. Several drifters at ~7N, 130W exhibited strong
velocity anomalies associated with a tropical instability wave, and six
drifters indicated very strong eastward anomalies at 3-7N, 135-150E. Elsewhere,
the drifter array indicated that large-scale currents were close to their
climatological July 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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