WW2010
University of Illinois

Helper Menu
 
  exit helper
 
  previous page
 
> helper page
 
  more detail

NOTE: We've guessed that you're not using a client that supports colored tables and have tried to compensate. Low graphics mode looks much better on clients that do... we recommend switching to Netscape 3.0 or Microsoft Internet Explorer.
.
El Niño Sea Surface Temperatures
a look at the El Niño event from 1982-83

An El Niño event is identified by warmer than normal sea surface temperatures (SSTs). An SST anomaly plot, like the one given below, shows the difference between the observed SSTs and the normal SSTs for a given month. This particular plot depicts the SST anomaly from December of 1982.


Image by: Liu

The yellow and red shadings of the eastern Pacific indicate that the waters were considerably warmer than normal. In fact, the El Niño event of 1982-83 was the strongest this century, with an SST anomaly exceeding 3.5 degrees Celsius.


Terms for using data resources. CD-ROM available.
Credits and Acknowledgments for WW2010.
Department of Atmospheric Sciences (DAS) at
the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.