El Niño-La Niña Sea Surface Temperature, Height, and Wind Anomalies: Jan. 1997 through Dec. 1999

  • Released Tuesday, December 21, 1999
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This animation shows the onset of the very strong 1997 El Niño, followed by its collapse and replacement by La Niña. Anomalously warm waters slosh across the Pacific in late 1997 as El Niño begins and the equatorial trade winds diminish in strength. In May 1998, the El Niño event disperses and is rapidly replaced by its reciprocal phenomenon, La Niña, with anomalously cold water along the eastern equatorial Pacific and a reversal of the wind flow patterns.

El Niño-La Niña sea surface temperature, height, and wind anomalies in the Pacific for January 1997 through December 1999. Wind anomalies stop at September 1999.

Credits

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

This page was originally published on Tuesday, December 21, 1999.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:58 PM EDT.

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