Tropical Pacific Drifting Buoys
Rick Lumpkin / Mayra Pazos, AOML, Miami
AUGUST 2009
During August 2009, 435 satellite-tracked surface drifting buoys,
75% with subsurface drogues attached for measuring mixed layer currents,
were reporting from the tropical Pacific. Across the basin, surface currents
speeds were near their normal climatological August values. Most drifters
between 10N and 10S, and nearly all east of 130E, measured SST warmer by +0.5
to +3.0C than normal. The warmest anomalies were measured in the easternmost
equatorial band and in the Kuroshio Current.

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.
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