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Science 16 September 1983:
Vol. 221. no. 4616, pp. 1173 - 1175
DOI: 10.1126/science.221.4616.1173
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Articles

Oceanographic Observations of the 1982 Warming of the Tropical Eastern Pacific

DAVID HALPERN 1, STANLEY P. HAYES 1, ANTS LEETMAA 2, DONALD V. HANSEN 2, and S. GEORGE H. PHILANDER 3

1 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, Seattle, Washington 98115
2 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratories, Miami, Florida 33149
3 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08540

Moored current meter, sea level, hydrographic, and surface drifter measurements show the large changes that took place in the eastern tropical Pacific during the onset of the warm episode of 1982. In August the near-surface flow at 0°, 110°W reversed direction to eastward. By October the sea surface temperature in the equatorial zone increased by 5 degrees Celsius above the long-term monthly mean value, sea level rose by 22 centimeters at the Galápagos Islands, and the thermocline was displaced downward by 50 to 70 meters along the equator and the South American coast.

Submitted on June 9, 1983
Revised on July 25, 1983


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Satellite Color Observations of the Phytoplankton Distribution in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific During the 1982-1983. El Nino.
G. FELDMAN, D. CLARK, and D. HALPERN (1984)
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El Nino-Southern Oscillation Events Recorded in the Stratigraphy of the Tropical Quelccaya Ice Cap, Peru.
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Biological Consequences of El Nino.
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