Abstract
During 1983 and 1984 oceanographers from France and the USA conducted an extensive field programme in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. The principal goal was to document the annual cycle, but unexpectedly a difference was observed between the two years. We describe here the observed variations in the thermal field and in the zonal currents along several meridians. In early 1984, the upper ocean especially on the eastern side of the ocean basin was substantially warmer than during the corresponding period a year earlier. Most of this change in the heat content was the result of a deeper thermocline. During this time an unusual eastward surface current appeared to the south of the Equator undoubtedly contributing to large zonal heat fluxes. The decrease in the surface winds1 between 1983 and 1984 is presumably responsible for these changes. Inspection of the few available long records reveals that in the Atlantic warm events such as that of 1984 are rare and that the previous event with comparable amplitude occurred in 1963.
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Hisard, P., Henin, C., Houghton, R. et al. Oceanic conditions in the tropical Atlantic during 1983 and 1984. Nature 322, 243–245 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1038/322243a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/322243a0
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