1. 1. In this paper, the term "Tropics" refers to the area of the low latitudes between latitude 30oN and 30oS. The term "equatorial" is a further refinement, and refers to the area on or near the equator. The reader should be reminded that warm oceans cover almost eighty per cent of the area under study.
2. 2. To a great extent, however, the distribution of meteorological stations in the tropics remains uneven, and large areas, such as the Amazon Basin and the Southeast Pacific Ocean, contain a very sparse network.
3. 3. C.E. Palmer, and T. Malone : Tropical Meteorology ; in, Compendium of Meteorology 1951, Amer. Met. Soc, p.868 .