Where can I find more technical info on passages in El Niño years? I’ve been unable to find anything, even in your books and website. There’s talk of reinforced trades, reversed trades, and as you say reduced trades. Is there any solid data or experience on the subject? Many thanks again…Jan
Hi Jan: From first hand experience I can tell you that in El Niño years in the S. Pacific the trades are much lighter, and there tend to me more convergence zones in between the trade wind flow. And of course, the cyclone season tends to affect French Polynesia (which it typically does not in “normal” years). Otherwise two suggestions for data: One is Bob McDavitt at the NZ Met Service (mcdavitt@met.co.nz). The second suggestion is to check out the Next-Generation Pilot Charts on SetSail.com. These have world wide weather data in grib format for the years 1990-99, in month-long chunks. Great for checking patterns in SetSail-MaxSea, and you can make movies, do sample routings, etc. Steve
Posted by Steve Dashew (November 30, 1999)
