Tropical Pacific Drifting Buoys
Rick Lumpkin / Mayra Pazos, AOML, Miami
OCTOBER 2012
During October 2012, 319 satellite-tracked surface drifting buoys, 71% with
subsurface drogues attached for measuring mixed layer currents, were reporting
from the tropical Pacific. Strong eastward anomalies of ~40 cm/s were seen
close to and north of the equator in the western basin, west of the dateline,
which have persisted since September. Elsewhere, current anomalies were
relatively weak.

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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