| The wind, temperature and current data collected during the joined French-USA FOCAL/SEQUAL programme carried in the equatorial Atlantic band in 1983 and 1984, allowed for the first time a simultaneous study of both the equatorial and coastal (5-degrees-N) upwellings along 4-degrees-W. At the equator, the decreases of both the surface temperature and the depth of the thermocline in boreal summer are correlated with the zonal component of the local windstress in the period band 1-2 months. This corresponds to the time required by the thermocline to lift up at 0-4-degrees-W in the presence of an easterly wind. The local wind cannot however explain the entire vertical variability of the thermal structure at 0-4-degrees-W. The correlation function shows in... |
