Far-Reaching Effects of the Hawaiian Islands on the Pacific Ocean-Atmosphere System
Shang-Ping Xie,1*
W. Timothy Liu,2
Qinyu Liu,3
Masami Nonaka1
Using satellite data, we detected a wind wake trailing westward
behind the Hawaiian Islands for 3000 kilometers, a length many times
greater than observed anywhere else on Earth. This wind wake drives an
eastward ocean current that draws warm water from the Asian coast 8000 kilometers away, leaving marked changes in surface and subsurface ocean
temperature. Standing in the path of the steady trade winds, Hawaii
triggers an air-sea interaction that provides the feedback to sustain
the influence of these small islands over a long stretch of the Pacific
Ocean.
1 International Pacific Research Center,
School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii,
2525 Correa Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA.
2 Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak
Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
3 Physical
Oceanography Laboratory, Ocean University of Qingdao, Qingdao 266003, China.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
xie{at}soest.hawaii.edu
Also at Frontier Research System for Global Change,
Yokohama 236-0001, Japan.
