ABSTRACT
In the domain of El Nino, air-sea interaction permeates all our thoughts and is used to justify expensive field programs. It is the cornerstone of numerical simulations, whether by meteorologists using ocean heating as a prime mover or by oceanographers who start everything with wind stress. By November, as El Nino approaches its culmination, tropical cyclones start developing in the newly-formed South Pacific near-equatorial trough and in conjunction with the prolonged west Pacific season generate even stronger westerly wind surges along the equator. From a meteorological viewpoint the 1982–83 Nino differed from its predecessors only in the South Pacific where in June 1982 an unusual near-equatorial trough developed west of the date line with cyclonic activity. Sea surface temperature distribution through its influence on surface pressure determines where cyclogenesis may occur. A typhoon developed in January 1975, and in February-March cruises between the Galapagos and South America found strong evidence for a developing Nino.
