Firing, J., Brainard, R. E.

Ten years of shipboard ADCP measurements along the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

2006

Atoll Research Bulletin

543

347-363

"Ten years of shipboard acoustic Doppler current profiler data, resulting in 105 transects along the Hawaiian Ridge, have been analyzed to describe the spatial and temporal variability of the mean currents and vertical shear structure in the vicinity of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The analysis spans the period October 1990 through November 2000, with data being most sparse during the boreal winter months. The current field is dominated by mesoscale variability; only in a few locations is the mean statistically significant. The mean shows the North Hawaiian Ridge Current flowing westward south of Kauai and Nihoa. The average from March to July shows the eastward Subtropical Countercurrent, from Maro Reef to Necker Island. Information on ocean current structure is critical to better understand biological connectivity among the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands as well as between the Main Hawaiian Islands and the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands."

FY2003 CRCP Project ID 1223; Project Title: Larval Transport from Coral Reef Reserves; Principal Investigator: Rusty Brainard