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Satellite image shows La Niña weakening
January 27, 1999
This image of the Pacific Ocean was produced using sea-surface
height measurements taken by the U.S.-French TOPEX/Poseidon
satellite. The image shows sea surface height relative to normal
ocean conditions on January 17, 1999; sea surface height is an
indicator of the heat content of the ocean. This image shows that
the unusual large-scale warming (shown here in red and white) in
the northwest Pacific that was first observed by the satellite in
November 1998 has increased in size and spread east to the
central Pacific and south to the equator. The low sea level or
cold pool of water along the equator, commonly referred to as La
Niña (shown in purple), has weakened in size and heat content
during the last several months. Although weakening, the La Niña
pattern continues to exert a strong influence on the worldwide
climate system. According to oceanographers, the cold La Niña
water acts like a boulder in a stream, steering the planet's
prevailing winds and changing the course of storms that are born
over the ocean. Equally important to North America's winter
weather is the very large area of unusually warm Western Pacific
ocean. Although the appearance of this feature is not fully
understood or anticipated, it is adding energy to the winter
storms coming out of the North Pacific which is fueling the very
volatile weather over the continental U.S. In this image, the
white areas show the sea surface is between 14 and 32 centimeters
(6 to 13 inches) above normal; in the red areas, it's about 10
centimeters (4 inches) above normal. The green areas indicate
normal conditions. The purple areas are 14 to 18 centimeters (6
to 7 inches) below normal and the blue areas are 5 to 13
centimeters (2 to 5 inches) below normal.
For more information, please visit the TOPEX/Poseidon project
web page at
http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov/
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