Appearing in this issue of the Journal of Physical Oceanography are three papers that present new observations of a distinct, narrow band, and diurnally varying signal in temperature records obtained in the low Richardson number shear flow above the core of the equatorial undercurrent. Moored data suggest that the intrinsic...
High correlations between turbulent dissipation rates and high-wavenumber internal waves and the high values of turbulent dissipation associated with internal wave activity suggest that internal waves are the main direct source of mixing in the thermocline above the core of the Equatorial Undercurrent. An extensive dataset obtained using a microstructure...
In the low Richardson number shear flow above the Pacific Equatorial Undercurrent, a single vertical microstructure profile intersected the overturning crest of a packet of high horizontal wavenumber waves. The observed dissipation rates within the overturning wave were so high that if they were representative of the volume-averaged rate, the...
From a comprehensive set of upper ocean measurements made during a moderate El Niño in boreal spring 1987, we reassess the role of turbulence in transporting momentum vertically at the equator. An examination of the terms in the vertically integrated zonal momentum equations indicates that on short time scales the...
A westerly wind burst observed in the warm pool of the western equatorial Pacific Ocean cooled the ocean's surface layer by about 0.8°C. Turbulent entrainment at the base of this layer caused cooling but also heating due to the reversal of the vertical temperature gradient during rain events. Consequently, the...
The dynamic response to a westerly wind burst which occurred during the Couple Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment in the warm pool of the equatorial Pacific Ocean is described using velocity, hydrography, and microstructure measurements. Turbulent fluxes distributed momentum input from the wind over a near-surface layer of variable thickness. Coriolis...