Tropical Highlights

  Table of Atmospheric Indices  (Table 1)

  Table of Oceanic Indices  (Table 2)

  Time Series

  Time-Longitude Sections

  Mean & Anomaly Fields

  Appendix 1: Outside Contributions

• Tropical Drifting Buoys  A1.1
  
• Thermistor Chain Data  A1.2
  
• TAO/TRITON Array (a)  A1.3
  
• TAO/TRITON Array (b)  A1.4
  
• East Pac. SST & Sea Level  A1.5
  
• Pacific Wind stress  A1.6
  
• Surface Currents (a)  A1.7
  
• Surface Currents (b)  A1.8
  
  

Tropical Pacific Drifting Buoys

Rick Lumpkin / Mayra Pazos, AOML, Miami

AUGUST 2008

During August 2008, 315 satellite-tracked surface drifting buoys, 86% with subsurface drogues attached for measuring mixed layer currents, were reporting from the tropical Pacific. Relatively weak westward anomalies were measured by many drifters across the South Pacific basin, and were also seen in the western third of the North Pacific. Outside these regions, currents were close to their climatological strengths. Across most of the basin, SSTs were near their typical August values. Warm anomalies of +0.5 to +3.0C were measured by many drifters in the northwest corner of the basin (west of 160E, north of 10N).

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 1993-2002 (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.