El Nino, a periodic warming of the Eastern Pacific Ocean, is among Earths most powerful phenomena. Satellite, ship, and buoy observations show the 1997-98 event as the strongest on record. Visualizing how sea-surface height, sea-surface temperature, and sea-surface winds differ from normal conditions reveals the events magnitude.

Researchers and forecasters often study sea surface temperatures for an indication of hurricane potential. Scientists say above normal Atlantic Ocean temperatures is one reason for the "above normal" hurricane forecast. Hurricanes convert heat from the tropical atmosphere and oceans to wind and waves, just as a car engine converts gasoline into motion. These animations show a year in the life of global ocean temperatures, June 2, 2002 to May 11, 2003. Green indicates the coolest water, yellow the warmest. The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) on the Aqua satellite saw through the clouds to provide sea surface temperatures.

Researchers and forecasters often study sea surface temperatures for an indication of hurricane potential. Scientists say above normal Atlantic Ocean temperatures is one reason for the above normal hurricane forecast. Hurricanes convert heat from the tropical atmosphere and oceans to wind and waves, just as a car engine converts gasoline into motion. These animations show a year in the life of global ocean temperatures, June 2, 2002 to May 11, 2003. Green indicates the coolest water, yellow the warmest. The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) on the Aqua satellite saw through the clouds to provide sea surface temperatures.

Researchers and forecasters often study sea surface temperatures for an activity predictions for 2003 in part to changing conditions in the Pacific Ocean, such as the demise of El Nino. This sequence tracks warmer-than-normal waters. By January, the warm conditions began to dissipate. Fewer than normal hurricanes generally form when El Nino is present. Researchers say the Pacific may transition to the colder-than-normal La Nina phase. Areas in red represent warmer than normal and areas in blue represent cooler than normal.

Researchers and forecasters often study sea surface temperatures for an indication of hurricane potential. Scientists say above normal Atlantic Ocean temperatures is one reason for the "above normal" hurricane forecast. Hurricanes convert heat from the tropical atmosphere and oceans to wind and waves, just as a car engine converts gasoline into motion. These animations show a year in the life of global ocean temperatures, June 2, 2002 to May 11, 2003. Green indicates the coolest water, yellow the warmest. The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) on the Aqua satellite saw through the clouds to provide sea surface temperatures.

This animation show a year in the life of anomalous global ocean temperatures, June 2, 2002 to May 11, 2003. Green indicates the coolest water, yellow the warmest. The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) on the Aqua satellite saw through the clouds to provide this sea surface temperature data.

Researchers and forecasters often study sea surface temperatures for an indication of hurricane potential. Scientists say above normal Atlantic Ocean temperatures is one reason for the above normal hurricane forecast. Hurricanes convert heat from the tropical atmosphere and oceans to wind and waves, just as a car engine converts gasoline into motion. These animations show a year in the life of global ocean temperatures, June 2, 2002 to May 11, 2003. Green indicates the coolest water, yellow the warmest. The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) on the Aqua satellite saw through the clouds to provide sea surface temperatures.

Researchers and forecasters often study sea surface temperatures for an indication of hurricane potential. Scientists say above normal Atlantic Ocean temperatures is one reason for the above normal hurricane forecast. Hurricanes convert heat from the tropical atmosphere and oceans to wind and waves, just as a car engine converts gasoline into motion. These animations show a year in the life of global ocean temperatures, June 2, 2002 to May 11, 2003. Green indicates the coolest water, yellow the warmest. The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) on the Aqua satellite saw through the clouds to provide sea surface temperatures.

Researchers and forecasters often study sea surface temperatures for an activity predictions for 2003 in part to changing conditions in the Pacific Ocean, such as the demise of El Nino. This sequence traces the evolution of the warmer-than-normal waters associated with the weak El Nino that developed in the late fall of 2002. By January, the warm conditions began to dissipate. Fewer than normal hurricanes generally form when El Nino is present. Researchers say the Pacific may transition to the colder-than-normal La Nina phase. Areas in red represent warmer than normal and areas in blue represent cooler than normal.

Water vapor is a small but significant constituent of the atmosphere, warming the planet due to the greenhouse effect and condensing to form clouds which both warm and cool the Earth in different circumstances. A key feature of global atmospheric water vapor convection is the Intertropical Convergence Zone, the low pressure region within five degrees of the equator where the trade winds converge and solar heating of the atmosphere forces the water-laden air to rise in altitude, form clouds, and then precipitate as rain in the afternoon. This visualization shows the global water vapor distribution in gray and white and the global precipitation in yellow every hour from December 20, 1997 to January 14, 1998. The afternoon thunderstorms in the tropics are seen as a flashing yellow region that moves from east to west, following the sun. This is an El Nino period, when the water to the west of South America is warmer than normal, allowing the atmosphere there to heat up and hold more water. This region feeds a high band of water vapor reaching to the southeastern United States and causes increased humidity and rainfall in that region. This data is from the Goddard Earth Modeling System, a coupled land-ocean-atmosphere model which uses earth and satellite-based observations to simulate the Earths physical system during events such as El Nino.

An animation of sea surface temperature and sea surface height anomalies in the Pacific Ocean for the period January 1997 through December 1997. The data is shown on a globe and the point of view moves from showing a full globe to flying over the equatorial Pacific toward South America.

An animation of sea surface temperature and sea surface height anomalies in the Pacific Ocean for the period January 1997 through December 1997. The data is shown on a globe and the point of view moves from showing a full globe to flying over the equatorial Pacific toward South America.

This image was developed for use on the cover of the National Geographic ATLAS OF THE OCEANS. Sea surface temperature anomalies are colors, with red being warmer than normal and blue being colder than normal, and sea surface height anomalies are exaggerated heights.

An animation of sea surface temperature, sea surface height, and sea temperature at depth in the Pacific Ocean from July 1997 through November 1998 as measured by NOAA AVHRR, TOPEX Poseidon, and the TAO TRITON Array

Sea surface temperature anomaly in color, sea surface height anomalies in height

An animation of sea surface temperature anomaly, sea surface height anomaly, and sea temperature anomaly at depth in the Pacific Ocean from January 1997 through December 1999 as measured by NOAA AVHRR, TOPEX Poseidon, and the TAO TRITON Array

An animation of sea surface temperature anomaly, sea surface height anomaly, and sea temperature anomaly at depth in the Pacific Ocean from January 1997 through February 1999 as measured by NOAA AVHRR, TOPEX Poseidon, and the TAO TRITON Array

An animation of sea surface temperature anomaly, sea surface height anomaly, and sea temperature anomaly at depth in the Pacific Ocean from July 1997 through November 1998 as measured by NOAA AVHRR, TOPEX Poseidon, and the TAO TRITON Array

Sea Surface Height Anomaly for the Equatorial Pacific region from June, 1997, to June, 1998.