Peru Current

The Peru Current is the cold, equatorward eastern boundary flow off the Peruvian and northern Chilean coast, the northern part of the broader Humboldt Current system. Persistent equatorward winds drive offshore Ekman transport and coastal upwelling, bringing cold, nutrient-rich water to the surface and supporting one of the most productive marine ecosystems on Earth. The system is the locus of El Nino, when the upwelling weakens, the thermocline deepens, and warm, nutrient-poor water replaces the cold tongue, collapsing the anchoveta catch. It carries low-salinity, oxygen-poor water along the slope.