Kelvin Wave Renews El Niño

A trio of globes of sea surface height anomalies shows a deep pulse of warm water—a Kelvin wave—crossing the Pacific Ocean in February 2010. Kelvin waves strengthen and maintain El Niño episodes.

This image originally appeared in the NASA Earth Observatory story Kelvin Wave Renews El Niño.

NASA Earth Observatory images by Jesse Allen, Kevin Ward, and Robert Simmon. Caption by Rebecca Lindsey, based on interpretation provided by Josh Willis and Bill Patzert, NASA JPL.

Published March 21, 2010
Data acquired January 15 - February 15, 2010

Sources:: JASON-1; JASON-2