Global Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies (Jun 2002-Sep 2003)

  • Credit

    NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

Global Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies from June, 2002 to September, 2003 (WMS)

The temperature of the surface of the world's oceans provides a clear indication of the state of the Earth's climate and weather. The AMSR-E instrument on the Aqua satellite measures the temperature of the top 1 millimeter of the ocean every day, even through the clouds. If the average sea surface temperature for a particular date is subtracted from the measured temperature for that date, the resulting sea surface temperature anomaly can be used to accurately assess the current state of the oceans. The anomaly can serve as an early warning system for weather phenomena and can be used to indicate forthcoming problems with fish populations and coral reef health. In this visualization of the anomaly covering the period from June, 2002, to September, 2003, the most obvious effects are a successive warming and cooling along the equator to the west of Peru, the signature of an El Nino/La Nina cycle. Around January 1, 2003, a cooler than normal region of the ocean appears in this region as part of a La Nina and flows westward, driven by the trade winds. The waves that appear on the edges of this cooler area are called tropical instability waves.

The oceans in this animation have been falsely colored. Temperatures warmer than normal are shown in red while cooler than normal temperatures are shown in blue.

Metadata

  • Sensor

    Aqua/AMSR-E

  • Animation ID

    2906

  • Video ID

    None

  • Start Timecode

    00:00:00:00

  • End Timecode

    00:00:00:00

  • Animator

    Eric Sokolowsky, Greg Shirah, Jesse Allen

  • Studio

    SVS

  • Visualization Date

    2004/02/12

  • Scientist

    Frank J. Wentz (Remote Sensing Systems), Chelle Gentemann (Remote Sensing Systems)

  • Keywords

    Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly

  • DLESE Subject

    Physical oceanography

  • Georeference Data

    Geographic Projection: Latitude extents -90, 90. Longitude extents -180, 180.

  • Data Date

    2002/06/02 - 2003/09/07

  • Story URL

    http://www.ghcc.msfc.nasa.gov/AMSR/

  • Animation Type

    Regular