LARGE-SCALE CURRENT AND THERMOHALINE STRUCTURES ALONG 156-DEGREES-E DURING THE COARE INTENSIVE OBSERVATION PERIOD

From December 1992 to February 1993, 18 meridional sections of tempera ture, salinity, and current were collected along 156 degrees E, from 5 degrees S to 5 degrees N, during the Intensive Observation Period of the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment. The average conditio ns were characteristic of the ongoing El Nino event, with a relatively shallow thermocline and fresh surface waters. Alternating westerly an d easterly wind forcing was observed, and the warm surface layer (the ''Warm Pool'') responded in a time scale of a few days by correspondin g alternating flows; the equatorial current system was less affected a t depth. The upper-layer oceanic temperature variability involved seve ral mechanisms, including surface cooling by evaporation during wester ly winds and entrainment from the thermodine.