Why Is There a Tritium Maximum in the Central Equatorial Pacific Thermocline?

Abstract

It is suggested that the tritium maximum in the central Pacific is caused by two water pathways across the North Equatorial Countercurrent (NECC), one from the central Pacific and the other from the Mindanao Current. It is argued that an interior pathway exists, by which tritium-rich thermocline waters from the subtropical North Pacific cross the NECC in the central Pacific. The transport in this pathway, however, is small compared with that from the Mindanao Current.