Surface currents, especially in the tropical Pacific, are a very important process for the development of this climate disturbance, El Nino/La Nina.  It's important to monitor these surface currents to see how they evolve, how they vary with time, and also not only in time in the past, because data from the past can help us to understand the mechanisms.  But it is also important to have data in near real time to see what is happening right now and to have ideas or to be able to see how the climate is evolving, the short-term climate.