NITRITE AND STATIC STABILITY IN THE COASTAL WATERS OFF PERU

A strong secondary nitrite maximum was observed at 15°S off the coast of Peru in August 1976. Since the secondary nitrite maximum does not coincide with a maximum in stability where sinking particulate organic material would accumulate, the hypothesis that the depth of nitrite accumulation is determined by the concentration of organic substrates on a density discontinuity is not tenable. Instead, the nitrite maximum coincides with a stability minimum within the core of the southward‐moving Equatorial Subsurface Water in the Peru‐Chile Undercurrent. Copyright 1979 by the American Geophysical Union.