Hawaiian Lee Countercurrent Alexis Clavijo

Discovery Late 1990’s Analysis of surface drifter velocity

Hawaii’s Wake Hawaii’s high mountain landscape: – Substantial obstacle in for the path of the trade winds – Splits trade winds in two Zone of weak winds (wind wake) forms on the leeward side (away from the wind) of the islands – Extremely large wake region

Regional Circulation Trade winds push warm water towards Asia Two quasi-steady rotating regions: – Cyclonic to the north – Anticyclonic to the south – Westward propagation HLCC pushes some warm water back to Hawaii Only warmer to surrounding ocean by one degree Celcius

China to Hawaii

Wind Generated Eddies Combination of atmospheric and oceanic flows above gives rise to an intense eddy field in the lee of the islands Satellite data sets indicate mesoscale eddies develop and persist for weeks to several months

Works Cited Xie, S.-P., W.T. Liu, Q. Liu, and M. Nonaka Far- reaching effects of the Hawaiian Islands on the Pacific Ocean-Atmosphere System. Science. 292(5524): Paulo H.R. Calil, Kelvin J. Richards, Yanli Jia, Robert R. Bidigare, Eddy activity in the lee of the Hawaiian Islands, Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, Volume 55, Issues 10–13, May–June 2008, Pages , ISSN nasa/2002/10apr_hawaii/ nasa/2002/10apr_hawaii/