WIND-FORCED VARIABILITY OF THE DEEP EASTERN NORTH PACIFIC - OBSERVATIONS OF SEA-FLOOR PRESSURE AND ABYSSAL CURRENTS

Data from an array of bottom pressure gauges and a string of current m eters in the vicinity of 47-degrees-N, 139-degrees-W, are used to exam ine the deep-ocean variability forced by ocean surface wind stress cur l from August 1987 to June 1988. Bottom geostrophic currents are compu ted from the pressure gauge array, and these correspond well to the lo ng-period directly measured currents at 3000 m. The supratidal-period bottom pressure variations are coherent at 95% confidence with the win d stress curl in period bands of 3-4 days and 15-60 days but removed i n distances of 400 and 700 km to the northwest and the southeast, resp ectively. A linear, two-layer hydrodynamic model is used to examine th e theoretical forcing produced by random-phased surface wind fields fo r the conditions of the eastern north Pacific and the 15- to 60-day-pe riod observed response is reproduced credibly. To model 3- to 15-day v ariations, more realistic models are required.