MEINTOR CURRENT (Peru Oceanic Current) 



The Mentor Current^ named after the German ship that observed 

 it in 1833^ originates mainly from the eaBternmost extension of 

 the South Pacific Current (located north of the West Wind Drift) 

 at about 40°S^ 90''W. It sets north and northwest and has the 

 characteristic features of a drift in that it is a broad, slow-moving 

 flow that extends about 9OO miles westward from the Peru Current to 

 about 90°W at its widest section and tends to be easily influenced 

 by winds. It joins the west-setting South Equatorial Current and 

 con^jletes the anticyclonic movement in the eastern part of the 

 South Pacific Ocean. The speed in the central part of the current 

 at about 26''S, SO^W may at times attain about 0.9 knot. 



A seasonal current rose for a region within the center of the 

 current^ shown in Figure 8, Indicates a significant percent 

 frequency of westward flow, which becomes greater westward as cirrrent 

 speed decreases. Comparison of this rose with the rose for region 2 

 in the adjacent Peru Current shows the differences in speed and 

 direction between the two currents. 



Very little is known of deepwater flow in the eastern South 

 Pacific Ocean, and estimates of speed and volume transport are 

 necessarily approximate. Indirect observations made at a depth of 

 3,500 meters in the southern part of the Mentor Current at about 

 39°S, 84 °W Indicate a probable weak, imiform movement northward up 

 to 0.05 cm/sec; volume transport of Pacific deep water from the 

 Antarctic is estimated at about 15 x 10 m-^/sec. 



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