Earth ID: 3135

Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies during El Niño/La Niña Event of 1997-1998 (WMS)

Visualizations by Jeff de La Beaujardiere Released on March 31, 2005

The El Niño/La Niña event in 1997-1999 was particularly intense, but was also very well observed by satellites and buoys. A strong upwelling of unusually warm water was observed in the Pacific Ocean during the El Niño phase, followed by unusually cold water in the La Niña phase. The Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) instrument on the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's NOAA-14 spacecraft observed the changes in sea surface temperature shown here.

This animation shows El Niño and La Niña from 1997 through 1998. Each frame is a ten-day average of sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies—that is, of differences from normal SST values. The area shown in the animation is the Pacific ocean from -20.5 to +20.5 latitude and +120.5 to +289.5 East longitude.

This product is available through our Web Map Service.

Color bar showing temperature anomalies ranging from 5 degrees Celsius (9 Farenheit) hotter (red areas) during El Niño to 5 C (9 F) cooler (blue areas) during La Niña.

Visualization Credits

Jeff de La Beaujardiere (NASA): Lead Animator
Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC): Animator
Antonio Busalacchi (NASA/GSFC): Scientist

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3135

Data Used:

NOAA-14/AVHRR/NCEP Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly

1997 through 1999, every 7 days

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Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.

Dates of Data Used:
1997 through 1999, every 7 days

This item is part of these series:
El Niño and La Niña
WMS

Keywords:
DLESE >> Physical oceanography
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Climate Indicators >> Teleconnections >> El Nino Southern Oscillation
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Oceans >> Ocean Temperature >> Sea Surface Temperature
GCMD >> Location >> Pacific Ocean
NASA Science >> Earth

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0