The purpose of the project is to provide funding for the scientific analysis of data collected as part of the Tropical Instability Wave Experiment (TIWE). TIWE is a multi-institutional program aimed at an improved understanding of the dynamical and thermodynamical transfers that occur between these waves and the background currents. The field work commenced in the central equatorial Pacific during the spring of 1990. The University of South Florida portion consisted of a five element array of subsurface-moored acoustic Doppler current profilers, monitoring currents over the upper 250 m of the water column from May 1990 to June 1991. A 100% data return was achieved, the data have been edited, a data report has been disseminated and scientific analyses are underway. These analysis bear upon the kinematics, dynamics, energetics, and thermodynamics of the instability waves and their interaction with the background currents. Additional analysis aims at an improved understanding of the evolution of the three-dimensional flow field on the equator in the central Pacific.
