Atlas of the tropical Pacific Ocean annual cycle

Data for this tropical Pacific ocean atlas comes from monthly gridded analyses of temperature and current data over a ten year (1983-1992) period generated by an ocean-data assimilation system at the National Meteorological Center, Washington D.C. This atlas shows maps of the long-term mean, monthly standard deviation, mean annual cycle (harmonic dial) and the amount of variance explained by the annual cycle for surface and subsurface quantities of the tropical Pacific Ocean. The main focus of this atlas is subsurface variations, but the surface wind-stress curl and sea-surface temperature are also included for completeness. The main variables considered here are subsurface temperature, currents, and the depth of the 20°C isotherm. A few trajectories of water parcels along the depth of the 20°C isotherm during the course of the annual cycle are also shown. Data are shown on level surfaces at selected depths, depth integrated, and on meridional and zonal cross sections.