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Science 7 December 1990:
Vol. 250. no. 4986, pp. 1385 - 1388
DOI: 10.1126/science.250.4986.1385
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Articles

El Niñ-Southern Oscillation Displacements of the Western Equatorial Pacific Warm Pool

M. J. McPhaden 1 and J. Picaut 2

1 Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 7600 Sand Point Way Northeast, Seattle, WA 98115
2 Groupe SURTROPAC, Institut Français de Recherche Scientifique pour le Développement en Coopération (ORSTOM), Nouméa, New Caledonia

The western equatorial Pacific warm pool (sea-surface temperatures >29°C) was observed to migrate eastward across the date line during the 1986-1987 El Niño-Southern Oscillation event. Direct velocity measurements made in the upper ocean from 1986 to 1988 indicate that this migration was associated with a prolonged reversal in the South Equatorial Current forced by a large-scale relaxation ofthe trade winds. The data suggest that wind-forced zonal advection plays an important role in the thermodynamics of the western Pacific warm pool on interannual time scales.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Biological and Chemical Response of the Equatorial Pacific Ocean to the 1997-98 El Niño.
F. P. Chavez, P. G. Strutton, G. E. Friederich, R. A. Feely, G. C. Feldman, D. G. Foley, and M. J. McPhaden (1999)
Science 286, 2126-2131
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Genesis and Evolution of the 1997-98 El Niño.
M. J. McPhaden (1999)
Science 283, 950-954
   Abstract »    Full Text »
An ~15,000-Year Record of El Niño-Driven Alluviation in Southwestern Ecuador.
D. T. Rodbell, G. O. Seltzer, D. M. Anderson, M. B. Abbott, D. B. Enfield, and J. H. Newman (1999)
Science 283, 516-520
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Recent Variability in the Southern Oscillation: Isotopic Results from a Tarawa Atoll Coral.
J. E. Cole, J. E. Cole, R. G. Fairbanks, and G. T. Shen (1993)
Science 260, 1790-1793
   Abstract »    PDF »
Paleoceanography of the Tropical Eastern Pacific Ocean.
R. W. Grigg, R. W. GRIGG, and R. HEY (1992)
Science 255, 172-178
   Abstract »    PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)