Ocean Story: Is an El Niño developing in the tropical Pacific Ocean? (May, 2014)

A comparison of the current warming conditions to the pre-conditions of the 1997-98 El Niño.

Historically, every 2-7 years or so, the easterly trade winds relax or reverse abnormally, and the cold tongue is weakened or disappears. This abnormal warming in the cold tongue region (relative to the normal condition) is referred to as El Niño.

New-and-improved beta version 2-D State of the Ocean Visualization Tool (SOTO)

It provides near real-time data layers (vector and image) that are visualized in an HTML5 interface utilizing open-source tools such as Leaflet.js. SOTO 2D data layers are annotated to give contextual descriptions of the ocean's features and events, and kml overlays (ice extent, hurricane tracks, clouds).

In this early stage of release, we recommend using Google Chrome. The fast rendering capabilities make the experience that much better.

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