, 2009). This upwelling is stronger under La Niña compared to El Niño conditions (Philander, 1990). North Equatorial Counter Current (NECC, 8°N:12°N, 177.5°W:142.5°W): The NECC is to the north of the CEP and has an annual mean position centered at about 10°N. The NECC is an eastward extension of the relatively low salinity WPWP waters, and typically has a salinity of about 34.5 with a seasonal variability of about 0.4. From July to November, the salinity within the region decreases due to the summer monsoon bringing warmer and fresher waters from the west

and as the core of the NECC shifts closer to the equator. The TCO2, TA, and pCO2 values decrease to the west towards the WPWP (Ishii et al., 2009) and the greater eastward transport of the NECC from http://www.selleckchem.com/products/dabrafenib-gsk2118436.html July to November is likely to lower TCO2 and TA in the sub-region. South Equatorial Current (SEC: 20°S–12°S, 157.5°W–142.5°W): The SEC flows west as part of the South Subtropical Gyre and can extend Afatinib chemical structure from 5°N to 20°S (Ganachaud et al., 2012). The SEC usually is found down to 100 to 200 m depth (Reverdin et al., 1994). The seasonal variability of the southeast and northeast

trade winds affects SST, SAL (Bingham et al., 2010), pCO2 (Feely et al., 2002 and Takahashi et al., 2009), TA, and TCO2 (Wanninkhof et al., 1995) of surface waters. In the SEC sub-region, the strengthening of the trade winds enhances evaporative Glutamate dehydrogenase cooling and upwelling, leading to cooler and higher salinity waters (Bingham et al., 2010), which may cause TA to increase following

Eq. (2), and the calculated TCO2 from TA and pCO2 to also increase. The TCO2 and Ωar values are calculated using pCO2 and TA, along with the seawater temperature and salinity and the thermodynamic constants for carbonic acid (Park, 1969). We used the Takahashi et al. (2009) climatology for surface SST, SAL and pCO2. This monthly 4° × 5° climatology for pCO2 is based on surface underway measurements corrected to the year 2000, with data collected in the 10°S to 10°N band during El Niño events excluded from the data set (Fig. 2a). The coverage of TA is less extensive (Fig. 2b). Equations to calculate TA from SAL and SST in the Pacific Ocean have been derived by Chen and Pytkowicz (1979), Millero et al. (1998), Lee et al. (2006), and Christian et al. (2008). The Chen and Pytkowicz data were from the 1970′s Pacific Geochemical Ocean Sections Study and Lee et al. used data collected prior to 2006. We re-evaluated the relationship of TA to salinity and SST using a larger and more recent dataset collected on high-resolution hydrographic sections (Fig. 2, Table 1). These data were sourced from the CLIVAR and Carbon and Hydrographic Data Office (http://cchdo.ucsd.edu/), and cover a greater range of years and multiple La Niña and El Niño events.