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.
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