Thanks to the Peruvian current, commonly known as the Humboldt Current, which sweeps cold Antarctic waters northward up nearly the entire coast, the water off the coast is surprisingly cold for Peru's latitude.

With Aime Bonpland, a French botanist, he traveled throughout Latin America (1799 - 1804), studying physical geography and meteorology; in the Andes, he determined the relationship between altitude and temperature, and he also discovered the cool Peruvian current that now bears his name.