KIGIIRE 20. Trade W ind Zone of the North Pacific Ocean. 

 < )rean<»praph> of the zone is to be in\esti{jateil by ih*' B('F 

 l.:thiiral«ir« in Honolulu. 



the weather i.s equally warm in New Orleans and Tucson, but 

 a man who flies from the one city to the other will have no 

 difficulty in distinguishing between the languorous breath 

 of the South and the crisp air of the West. Conversely, the 

 air in w-arm Miami in summer can be as humid as that in 

 cool San Francisco. 



The creatures of the ocean live in an environment whose 

 climate and weather can likewise be described to some 

 degree in terms of two properties — temperature and salinity. 

 Is it hot or cold? Is it very saline or less so? 



Neither temperature nor salinity values vary widely in 

 the central Pacific, but these variations might define oceanog- 

 ra[)hic climates as distinguishable as those of New Orleans 

 and Tucson, Miami and San Francisco. And variations exist 

 not only at the surface, but beneath it, so that a man might 

 lish at the same depth in the same spot in two successive 

 months but be taking his catch from waters of sharply 

 contrasting climates. 



The detailed description of the subsurface layers of the 

 ocean in the Hawaiian region is one of the fruits of the 

 Trade Wind Zone Oceanography Pilot Study. As a result of 

 their preliminary analyses, Seckel and his colleague, Robert 

 L. Charnell, are able to say that south of the Hawaiian 

 Islands are locations where the upper 300 meters (about 

 1,000 feet) contain as many as four distinguishable layers 

 of water whose salinity values suggest they originated in 

 surface water types formed many miles away (figs. 23 and 

 24). This finding emphasizes the importance of the Hawaiian 

 region as a monitoring station, for here in one easily acces- 

 sible location are reflected the effects of energy input in the 

 Pacific wind systems from lat. 40" S. to above 40° N. 



145" 



FIGURE 21. In the I'ih.l .Slud> for the Trad. \» in.l Zone 

 investigation, thi- Tawnnrnd t-roniicell rovere*! the tr;i(-k 

 shoMii al>o\e each month f<»r 16 months. 



31 



