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

MARCH 2009

During March 2009, 352 satellite-tracked surface drifting buoys, 83% with subsurface drogues attached for measuring mixed layer currents, were reporting from the tropical Pacific. Across the basin, the westward SEC was stronger by 5-20 cm/s than its climatological February strength, with the strongest anomalies at 20S. Strong eastward anomalies in the NECC and at 110-120W, 5S may have been associated with advection by instability waves. Between 10N and 20S, most SSTs were close to climatological March values. Many drifters north of 10N and west of 130W measured anomalously cold (-0.5 to -1.5C) SSTs. South of 20S, warm anomalies of +0.5 to +3.0C wer measured across the basin.

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.