30« 

 N. 



20« 



10« 



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NORTH PACIFIC CENTRAL WATER 



HAWAII » 





_\V^V 



NORTH PACIFIC EQUATORIAL WATER 



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170" W. 



150" 



140" 



130» 



120" 



published a description of the oceanographic climate of the 

 Hawaiian region. Describing the mixed layer, that warm 

 upper skin of the ocean that extends from the surface to 

 the thermocline a few score feet below and which is charac- 

 terized by temperature and salinity values that change only 

 negligibly with depth, he found that the central Pacific can 

 be thought of as two adjacent lakes whose waters have 

 differing properties. The banks of these lakes are not solid 



earth but those immensely wide streams in the ocean we 

 call currents. The.se currents follow irregular, meander- 

 ing courses in time and space, now squeezing an adjacent 

 lake, now allowing it room to expand. And the currents 

 themselves contract and dilate with the different seasonal 

 wind regimes. 



Tlie current in the central Pacific, which is called the 

 California Current Extension, generally runs south of the 



28 



