Currents at Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands, were measured on the reef margins, in the channels, and in the lagoon. Lagoon circulation is dominated by wind-driven downwind surface flow and an upwind middepth return flow. This wind-driven flow has the characteristics of an Ekman spiral in an enclosed sea. Lagoon flushing is accomplished primarily by surf-driven water input over the windward (eastern) reefs and southerly drift out the South Channel. Mean water residence time is 1 month, while water entering the northern portion of the atoll takes about 4 months to exit.
In October 1974 the occurrence of a weak El Niño event was predicted for early 1975 on the basis of the southern oscillation index. An expedition was organized to observe the event in the waters off Peru and Ecuador during two cruises in order to study its occurrence and its development with time. During the first cruise a massive transgression of warm low salinity water across the equator to 4 degrees S was observed, as well as a depression of the thermocline along the equator and off the coast of South America, indicating the start of El Niño development. During the second cruise the oceanographic situation had changed and conditions were returning to normal.
The Shuttle Experiment conducted between Hawaii and Tahiti from January 1979 to June 1980 was designed to observe the changing equatorial ocean structure and circulation, to study the variations and interactions of the four major equatorial ocean currents, and to develop a scientific basis for their monitoring by simple observations of thermal structure and sea level. Preliminary analyses of the results show that the equatorial thermal structure remains intact during a normal year and that only the positions and intensities of the currents are subject to change. The water transport of the equatorial undercurrent varied from 25 x 10(6) cubic meters per second in January to 51 x 10(6) cubic meters per second in July, but also exhibited strong short-term pulsations. The equatorial surface flow responded strongly to the winds at periods of 1 month and longer. An array of drifter buoys in the equatoral countercurrent was subject to very little dispersion while traveling over 4500 kilometers in 4 months. Low-frequency fluctuations in the North Equatorial Countercurrent can be monitored by means of the difference in sea level between Fanning and Majuro.
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