INTERNATIONAL DECADE OF OCEAN EXPLORATION COASTAL UPWELLING ECOSYSTEMS ANALYSIS Technical Report 58 A STUDY OF THE SURFACE WINDS OFF THE COAST OF PERU ROBERT JACKSON GOODWIN Florida State University Deportment Of Meteorology Tallahassee, Florida 32306 Reference FSU-CUEA-MET 79-2 vuly 1979PREFACE During the JOINT I and II coastal upwelling experiments conducted by the International Decade of Ocean Exploration, efforts were made to obtain as much information as possible on the surface winds via ships, buoys, coastal stations and air— craft. During the JOINT II 1977 experiment all of these plat- forms performed quite well providing sufficient data to permit extensive analysis of the winds along the buoy line for the period 16-31 March 1977. This report by Robert Jackson Goodwin represents his thesis submitted for his M.S. degree in Meteorology at the Florida State University. Further reports dealing with ship winds for other periods of JOINT II 1977 and JOINT I 1974 are plannea. David W. Stuart Principal Investigator CUEA Component 27ABSTRACT Surface wind and temperature data gathered by research vessels and meteorological buoys during the JOINT II oceano- graphic experiment off the coast of Peru in March, April, and May 1977 are examined. The data are presented in the form of mean profiles extending offshore from the coast and as a series of diurnal curves. Surface wind data are com- pared to corresponding wind data obtained at 500 ft (152 m) by a research aircraft. Offshore wind profiles indicate the presence of a maximum in the surface wind field near 10 km offshore and a minimum 17-22 km offshore, Offshore profiles based on ob- servations from four buoys show the major features indicated by the ship profiles. Buoy measurements indicate that the diurnal variability in the wind field decreases as the dis- tance from the coast increases. The sea breeze effect is seen to be present at least as far as 12 km offshore. How- ever, ship diurnal curves do not provide as good a represen- tation of the diurnal variability due to the nature of the averaging. Air temperature and sea surface temperature profiles show a mininun near five kilometers offshore with increasing values from there outward, This is evidence of the ii