Large-scale current and thermohaline structures along 156øE during the COARE intensive observation period

ridional sections of temperature, salinity, and current were col-lected along 156"E, from 5"s to 5"N, during the Intensive Obser-vation Period of the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Ex-periment. The average conditions were characteristic of the ongo-ing EI Niño event, with a relatively shallow. thermocline and fresh surface waters. Altemating westerly and easterly wind forcing was observed, and the warm surface layer (the "Warm Pool") responded in a time scale of a few days by corresponding altemating flows; the equatorial current system was less affected at depth. The upper-layer oceanic temperature variability in-volved several mechanisms, including surface cooling by evapo-ration during westerly winds and entrainment from the thermo-cline