Since the surface of the planet is comprised of about 75% of oceans, observing the oceanic changes is a difficult problem. In general, in-situ observations have the great advantage of providing direct measurements and tend to give fairly accurate results. On the other hand, in-situ observations are limited in space since the area of oceanic regions is very large. Thus the best approach for a global monitoring of El Niño development involves a combination of in-situ and remote sensing data
Topex/Poseidon
INDEPENDENT NASA
SATELLITE MEASUREMENTS CONFIRM EL NINO IS BACK AND STRONG
September 15, 1997
Pacific Ocean sea-surface height measurements and atmospheric water vapor information taken from two independent Earth-orbiting satellites are providing more convincing evidence that the weather-disrupting phenomenon known as El Nino is back and strong. "The new data collected since April 1997 confirm what we had earlier speculated upon and what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has predicted -- a full-blown El Nino condition is established in the Pacific," said Dr. Lee-Lueng Fu, project scientist for the U.S./French satellite TOPEX/POSEIDON satellite at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA.
NASA Ocean Research provided the first precise measurements of ocean height and the most precise data on ocean circulation to date. A NASA/French satellite (see "How TOPEX/Poseidon Tracked the 1994-95 El Niño Event") helped determine the strength and duration of the 1994-95 El Nino, the latest episode of the climate shift that can bring devastating rains to the U.S. drought to other parts of the world. In the future, these data will help us predict how El Nino will effect different regions. From 1978-86, a NASA instrument first provided global measurements of plant life productivity in the world's oceans (important to knowing both how climate may be changing and where fish are gathering); this data set should resume this year.
TOPEX/Poseidon charts long-term El Nino influence on climate More than a decade after affecting climate on a global scale, residual signs of a powerful..
NOAA/PMEL/TAO El Nino Theme Page: Satellite data
Sea Surface Temperature
U.S.Dept of Commerce / NOAA / PMEL / TAO Project. What is an El Nino?. - Sea-Surface Temperature
AVHRR
NOAA AVHRR Data - Instrument Characteristics These image data have been recorded by the "Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer", a sensor operating onboard ...
Modern Average Global Sea-Surface Temperature
AVHRR Data used in Pathfinder processing - Data The input to the Pathfinder data processing is more than 70,000 orbits of AVHRR GAC 1b data from the NOAA polar orbiting satellites...
USGS - AVHRR Sensor Characteristics (USGS).
Sea Surface Temperature Satellite Images (Satellite Image Archive The University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography)
Sea Surface Temperature Satellite Images - Archive 2 (Satellite Image Archive The University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography)
Multichannel Sea Surface Temperature Maps
JPL Physical Oceanography DAAC Reprocesses Ten Years of Se... Article in The Earth Observer - September/October 1994, Vol.6. No. 5 - JPL Physical Oceanography DAAC Reprocesses Ten Years of Sea Surface Temperature Measurements from NOAA AVHRR.
Monthly Averaged Sea Ice Concentration for the Polar Regions DMSP-F8 SSM/I
SeaWiFS Project - Global Sea Surface Temperature Mapsn
NCEP Global Sea Surface Temperature
Sea Surface Temperature Changes Sea Surface Temperature Changes Earth Space Research Group Sea Surface Temperature Changes During ENSO events, a large body of warm water moves from the western Pacific.
Sea Surface Temperature From NOAA Satellite
Climate Analysis Center monthly observed sea surface temperature, anomalies and climatology
Reynold's Blended Sea Surface Temperature Analyses - This SST data product is derived from ship, satellite, and...
TOVS
SMMR
Precipitation
Nimbus-5 ESMR (Electrically Scanning Microwave Radiometer)
Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM)
Water Vapor
SMMR
Clouds and Radiation
Nimbus-7 THIR (Temperature Humidity Infra-red Radiometer) - Nimbus-7 Spacecraft PLATFORM Document
TOMS Home Page - (cloud classifcation algorithm - UV radiation)
Evaporation over the Ocean
SMMR
Sea Surface Wind Stress
ERS-1 (Earth Resources Satellite)
SMMR and SSM/I (passive microwave radiometers)
Sea level and Ocean Circulation
GEOSAT altimeter
Paleo-reconstruction of ENSO (ice cores, varved seds and corals).
Ice cores from Peru and have a clear El Nino signal in the 20th century. In southern Peru - the ENSO signal is drought which has a dramatic effect on the Quelccaya ice cap. http://www-bprc.mps.ohio-state.edu/Icecore/
