Atmospheric cross‐sections of the stratus zone of the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean

Abstract

Significant features of the surface and upper‐air temperature and wind circulation, cloudiness, and weather over the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean during the northern summer season are revealed by atmospheric cross‐sections based on observations made on reconnaissance flights of the AAF Tropical Weather Unit in all directions from Seymour Island in the Galapagos Archipelago on August 14 to 18, 1945.Observations of winds aloft show a shallow southerly wind flow in the lower layers, while aloft the wind flow is easterly. Temperature soundings show a low inversion that is caused by cooling of the surface air by upwelling cold water and subsidence in the South Pacific anticyclone.Stratiform clouds which form below the inversion cover a huge area from the west coast of South America to beyond 96°W longitude, the westernmost limit of the observations. Areal distribution of the stratiform clouds and associated phenomena over the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean is shown by analyzed charts containing a dense network of observations from over the Ocean made by patrol aircraft during 1942 and 1943.