Earth  ID: 3142

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

Visualizations by Jeff de La Beaujardiere Released on April 1, 2005
The El Niño/La Niña event in 1997-1999 was particularly intense, but was also very well observed by satellites and buoys. Changes in the normal height of the ocean's surface were observed by the TOPEX/Poseidon altimeter.
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This animation shows El Niño and La Niña from 1997 through 1998. Each frame is a ten-day average of sea surface height (SSH) anomalies—that is, of differences from normal SSH 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.
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Color bar showing sea surface height anomalies ranging from -30cm (-12in) below normal (blue areas) to +30 cm (12 in) above normal (red areas).

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:
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3142

Data Used:
TOPEX/Poseidon/Sea Surface Height Anomaly 1997-01-01 through 1999-12-27, every 10 days
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:
1997-01-01 through 1999-12-27, every 10 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 >> Sea Surface Topography >> Sea Surface Height
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