Sea-Surface Temperature Anomalies: El Niño
OceansPhysical EnvironmentA composite of sea-surface temperature anomalies during El Niño from November to March during the following years: 1958, 1966, 1973, 1983, 1987, 1992, 1996, and 1998. When sea-surface temperatures in the tropical eastern Pacific rise well above normal, it is known as an El Niño event.
NOAASea-surface temperature anomalies during El Niño. The most intense warming (2 to 2.25 degrees Celsius, dark brown) occurs off the coast of South America. Cooler areas (negative 2.25 to negative 2 degrees Celsius, dark blue) are in the Arctic Ocean.
-0.25 to 0.25 | 0.75 to 1.0 | 1.0 to 1.25 | 1.25 to 1.5 | 1.5 to 1.75 | Tropical Forests | Class | Rank | Percentage of annual change | Atlantic Ocean Seaboard | Baja California | California | Churchill | Columbia and Northwestern United States | Fraser | Great Basin | Gulf Coast | Gulf of Mexico, North Atlantic Coast | Hudson Bay Coast | Mackenzie | Mexico, Northwest Coast | Mississippi - Missouri | North America, Colorado | Northwest Territories | Pacific and Arctic Coast | Río Grande - Bravo | Saskatchewan - Nelson | St John | St Lawrence | United States, North Atlantic Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.311% | 1.20% | 0.159% | 0.444% | 2.10% | 1.15% | 26.8% | 0.273% | 42.5% | 4.84% | 23.3% | 22.5% | 22.1% | 40.8% | 69.5% | 22.9% | 43.3% | 5.78% | 45.4% | 30.9% | 63.9% | 49.2% | 24.7% | 28.5% | 2.90% | 27.2% | 47.9% | ||||