On the Tropical Ocean--Global Atmosphere--Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment pilot cruise, at 147 ¿E, in the western Pacific Warm Pool, we profiled for 17 days at 0 ¿N and for 5 days at 2 ¿N. Winds were generally light and variable in direction, but rainfall was often quite intense. Contrary to what is seen in the central equatorial Pacific, we did not observe a deep diurnal cycle in dissipation extending below the mixed layer. Strong daytime restratification often prevented nightly convective deepening down to the seasonal thermocline, resulting in surface forcing remaining trapped in a shallow layer. The relaxation of horizontal density gradients into vertical appears to be an important process driving restratification. Turbulent fluxes in the bottom of the mixed layer were generally small. Following rainfall, we observed pools of fresh water that typically disappeared within a few hours, leaving the mixed layer nearly homogeneous in salinity; thus we did not observe a permanent barrier layer. Modeling such events using the Price-Weller-Pinkel model suggests a fresh pool will be mixed away on timescales of a few days, primarily by nighttime convection. The observed vertical structure can be accounted for by local vertical mixing processes. ¿ 1997 American Geophysical Union