On the possibility of a ridge current along the Hawaiian Islands

Four evenly spaced aircraft-deployed expendable bathythermograph and concurrent satellite advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) surveys were made over an extended areas during a 1-year period to observe possible ridge currents along the Hawaiian Islands predicted or hypothesized by other investigators. None of the surveys found extended currents running along the ridge. Instead, fields of energetic eddies were found, and a curious cusp-shaped sea surface temperature pattern was observed in two of the AVHRR fields. Apparent cyclonic currents around the island of Hawaii were also observed. We conclude that either ridge currents do not exist or that they exist but are intermittent (episodic) in nature or exist in a form more complicated than could be observed by this study.