for a cold tongue extending from the Gulf of 

 Panama nearly to the equator. Although this 

 cold tongue was not detected by the Askoy, 

 unusually high temperature, low salinity, and 

 a strong southward surface current measured 

 west of Malpelo Island may be related to the 

 influx of northern waters on the coast of Peru. 



Examination of average surface current 

 charts shows a northward coastal surface 

 flow north of Cabo de San Francisco through- 

 out the year, with a n-iean speed of about 25 

 cm. /sec. (0.5 knot) and a width of less than 

 100 miles, along the Colombian coast. Askoy 

 measurements in the northern part of Panama 

 Bight show a subsurface distribution of mass 

 consistent with such a current which appears 

 to be the eastern limb of the general counter- 

 clockwise circulation in the Panama Bight. It 

 is proposed that it be called the "Colombia 

 Current." 



A paper entitled "Oceanographic observa- 

 tions in the Panama Bight, Askoy Expedition 

 1941" was published in Bulletin of the Ameri- 

 can Museum of Natural History, vol. 118, no. 

 3, p. 113-152, 1959. 



The work was supported in part {about 50 

 percent) by the Office of Naval Research. 



Observations onTO-58-1 (Expedit io n SCOT) , 

 1958 (M. Rlackbum) .--Se^en stations and 13 BT 



lowerings were made in the period May 16-19, 

 1958, along 5° 30' N. between Cocos Island 

 and Cape Corrientes, Colombia (fig. 1). As a 

 result the distribution of mass referred to 

 above, namely a dome with a peak at about 

 80° 15' W., was found in about the same 

 region as on Askoy Expedition, and is shown 

 as a temperature profile in figure 9. The top 

 of the dome was only 7 m. below the sea 

 surface. Measurements of surface current 

 by GEK agreed well with the thermocline 

 topography, current direction being mainly 

 south to the west of the donne and mainly north 

 to the east of it. 



Apart fronn temperature the most ubiquitous 

 property measurement recorded along this 

 track was standing crop of zooplankton. It was 

 highest at station 59 (night station) and next 

 highest at station 60 (noon station). Phosphate 

 and salinity in near -surface waters were higher 

 at station 60 than at stations 56, 58, or 62, and 

 not measured elsewhere. Micronekton standing 

 crop was higher in night hauls at station 59 

 than at stations 56, 57, or 61 , and not measured 

 elsewhere. All these observations suggest 

 moderate enrichment and biological produc- 

 tion in the neighborhood of the dome, possibly 

 brought about by windstirring as suggested 

 above. Standing crop of chlorophyll a, on the 

 other hand, showed maxima at stations 58 and 

 62 (depending on the depth of observation) 



Figure 9.--Teniperature profile alon^ east-west section, C^ape (Tbrnentes to Cocos Island, SCOT Expedition 

 in May 19S8. 



22 



