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TMI Sea Surface Temperatures (SST) |
SST Anomaly Study During 1998 El Niño / La Niña
The TRMM TMI TA data were processed using a Remote Sensing Systems algorithm to obtain sea surface temperatures (SST). These SST data were mapped to a 0.25 degree grid and stored in binary format as daily averaged maps. Monthly maps were created by averaging these daily data. The June monthly map contains only the first ten days of data. The climatology map was interpolated to reflect this.
The Figure below displays the anomaly maps for December 1997 and the first six months of 1998. Each of these anomaly maps were produced by subtracting a monthly climatology map from the corresponding TMI SST monthly map. The climatology maps were calculated by averaging monthly Reynolds Optimum Interpolated (OI) SST data from 1982 to 1997.
December 1997 has a warm tongue of water along the equator due to El Niņo. The December 1997 thru April 1998 maps show the warm tongue shrinking as the El Niņo faded. The anomalous cold water present at the equator in early June 1998 signifies the start of a La Niña. More information about El Niño
and La Niña is available from PMEL.
1997-1998 Global Ocean TMI SST Anomalies
 View Quicktime Animation of the SST Anomalies depicted above
 
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