How Can Sea Surface Temperatures Increase When Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies Associated with El Niño Are Decreasing?
Brief Definition of “El Niño” The term El Niño refers to a rapid, dramatic warming of the sea-surface temperatures in the eastern tropical Pacific, chiefly along the north-central coast of South America and westward. Link to NOAA El Niño Explanation Page Link to Environmental News Network El Niño Explanation Page At right find a progression of NASA images which actually show deviations of sealevel from average. Where sealevel is higher, the ocean is warmer than normal (yellows, reds, and whites). Blues and purples indicate depressed sealevels (colder than normal). The latest images shows that the region of warmer than normal ocean temperatures in the eastern Pacific has contracted but still cover a substantial portion of the eastern tropical Pacific.. Although this suggests that this El Niño event may have peaked, it is important to keep in mind that this is consistent with the forecasts discussed below (that indicate that El Niño conditions should be present but waning through the nex
