ENSO Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies: 2015-2016

  • Released Wednesday, September 23, 2015
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Animation of Sea Surface Temperature Animaly from Dec 31, 2013 to present.

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a quasi-periodic fluctuation of ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific. The temperatures generally fluctuate between two states: warmer than normal central and eastern equatorial Pacific (El Niño) and cooler than normal central and eastern equatorial Pacific (La Niña).

This animation illustrates the evolution of sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies (relative to the respective normal state) in the Pacific Ocean associated with the developing 2015 El Niño, the warm phase ENSO. SST anomalies reflect the heat content in the mixed layer (upper 50 meters).

Animation of Sea Surface Temperature shows the evolution of the 2015-2016 ENSO event, starting at Jan 1, 2015

For More Information

See http://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/dataset/NCDC-L4LRblend-GLOB-AVHRR_OI

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

This page was originally published on Wednesday, September 23, 2015.
This page was last updated on Sunday, February 2, 2025 at 12:31 AM EST.

Datasets used

  • GHRSST Level 4 AVHRR_OI Global Blended Sea Surface Temperature Analysis [InSitu and NOAA 16, 17, 18, 11, 7, 9, 14: InSitu and AVHRR-3 and AVHRR-2]

    ID: 843
    Type: Analysis Sensor: InSitu and AVHRR-3 and AVHRR-2
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Note: While we identify the data sets used on this page, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.