Long tropical instability waves are described at around 3-4 degrees N based on results of a simulation performed with a general circulation model for the Atlantic Ocean. This description is in agreement with earlier observations of organized undulations of the summer thermal front associated with anti-cyclonic eddies propagating westward at 30-40 km/day along 3-4 degrees N from 10 to 40 degrees W through the Atlantic basin. However, the simulation indicated the presence of long waves in early boreal winter. In this respect, satellite observations during short cold events in winter show thermal front undulations similar to those associated with long wave propagations. The simulation clearly demonstrated large vertical movements between the surface and a depth of 70 m, associated with anti-cyclonic eddies at around 3 degrees N. These vertical movements could commonly reach the thermocline in the central part of the Atlantic basin (10-20 degrees W). In this region, long instability waves could subsequently affect biological production by ''eddy pumping''. During the PIRAL cruise at 4 degrees N-20 degrees W in June 1986, remarkably high chlorophyll concentrations (the highest values in our data bank for the equatorial Atlantic and typical of a very productive zone) were associated with currents similar to those of an anticyclonic eddy and characterized by a surface temperature distribution typical of the long instability wave pattern. These high chlorophyll concentrations may have resulted from ''eddy pumping'' and/or strong meridian advection since each of these mechanisms is associated with long instability waves.
