determined and entered to the nearest cardinal point in the upper panel 

 of figure 3„ No reliable data were available for 10 N c nor south of 

 1° N. latitude The easterly drift of the Countercurrent is evident 

 for stations at 6 and 7 N„ latitude,, The results for 8 N„ yielded 

 a set of 270° T os but if the effect of the wind could be accurately de- 

 termined, it is believed the resultant current set would be to the east. 

 At 5 N,, apparently at the boundary between the South Equatorial 

 Current and the Equatorial Countercurrent, the net drift was zero. 



As pointed out by Cromwell (1951), information concern- 

 ing the currents may be inferred from the wire angles during an oce- 

 anographic cast The average wire angle for all stations in the North 

 Equatorial Current was 23°, the wind speeds on station were 17-19 

 knots, blowing from the northeast,, In the Countercurrent, with winds 

 from 14 - 19 knots from NE to ENE, the average wire angle was 12 . 

 Considering the westerly moving North Equatorial Current and the 

 easterly Countercurrent, this was as could be expected. 



Moving south from the southern edge of the Countercurrent 

 (5 N ) into the South Equatorial Current, the wire angle increased 

 from station to station from 20° at 5 N„ to 65 at the Equator, The 

 wind, from E„ to ESE, was between 13 and 16 knots Considering 

 that the minimum wire angles were found in the region of the maximum 

 velocity of the South Equatorial Current (the northern edge) and that 

 there was no appreciable change in wind between the northern edge of 

 the South Equatorial Current and the Equator, it is possible that the 

 large angles near the Equator were related to the undercurrent re- 

 ported by Cromwell et al„ (1954), South of the Equator (2° S„ ) the 

 angle fell to 10° (wind 08 knots) and increased to 35 at 5 S. (wind 

 18 knots) This latter angle is similar to that at stations with similar 

 winds in the North Equatorial Current. 



Discussion 



Sette (MS), in a recent paper discussing the work of the 

 Pacific Oceanic Fishery Investigations, states that the survey data 

 from the east central equatorial Pacific "demonstrate that divergence 

 and upwelling at the Equator enrich the surface waters with inorganic 

 nutrient salts stimulating plankton production. Surface waters con- 

 taining plankton drift northerly to an adjacent convergent zone. By 

 inference this is believed to maintain a concentration of organisms 

 of the trophic level above plankton, mainly small fish and squid, which 

 in turn comprise food for yellowfin tuna, Neothunnus macrop teru s 

 (Temminck and Schlegel)„ The system is generated and its structure 

 largely governed by the winds,, " 



10 



