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Tropical Pacific Drifting Buoys
Rick Lumpkin / Mayra Pazos, AOML, Miami
DECEMBER 2010
During December 2010, 458 satellite-tracked surface drifting buoys,
73% with subsurface drogues attached for measuring mixed layer currents,
were reporting from the tropical Pacific. The westward SEC was up to
30 cm/s stronger than normal in December, an anomaly persisting since
September, with the strongest anomalies seen along 5S. Cold SST anomalies
of -0.5 to -1.5C were measured by most drifters east of the dateline from
25S to 10N, with very cold anomalies of -1.5 to -3.0C common in the region
90-125W, 12-22S. In contrast, warm anomalies of +0.5 to +3.0C were measured
by many drifters in the Kuroshio system.

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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