Peru Current, also called Humboldt Current, cold-water current of the southeast Pacific Ocean, with a width of about 900 km (550 mi). Relatively slow and shallow, it transports only 350,000,000–700,000,000 cu ft (10,000,000–20,000,000 cu m) of water per second. It is an eastern boundary current similar to the California Current of the North Pacific. The West Wind Drift flows east toward South America south of latitude 40° S, and while most of it continues through the Drake Passage around the southern tip of South America to the Atlantic, a shallow stream turns north to parallel the continent as far as latitude 4° S, where it turns west to join the Pacific South Equatorial Current.
As it is a cold current, except at times of the phenomenon known as El Niño, the Peru Current brings fog to the nearby coast but also helps to keep the coast one of the most intensely arid areas in the world. The cold flow is intensified by upwelling of deep water caused by the combined effects of the drag of surface winds of the Southeast Trades and the Earth’s rotation. Upwelling brings abundant nutrients close to the surface, and the beneficial effects of sunlight, which allow for rich plankton growth, make the waters off Peru, Chile, and Ecuador one of the world’s greatest fishing grounds for anchovies and the larger fish (e.g., tuna) that feed upon them. Another economic benefit is the guano, used for fertilizer, deposited by the flocks of birds that feed on the anchovies.
The current’s alternative name is taken from that of the German scientist Alexander von Humboldt, who in 1802 took measurements that showed the coldness of the flow in relation to the air above it and the sea around it.