NINO3.4 SST Anomalies Are Approaching 2 Deg C

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While the 2009/10 El Nino is still far from “Super El Nino” strength, NINO3.4 SST anomalies (OI.v2) for the week centered on December 23, 2009 have reached 1.94 deg C.
http://i50.tinypic.com/157byuf.png
Weekly NINO3.4 SST Anomalies

The increase is also visible in a .gif animation of the global SST anomalies for the last 4 weeks.
http://i46.tinypic.com/b7cn75.gif
Global SST Anomaly Animation

Referring to the NOAA Equatorial Pacific Temperature Depth Anomaly Animation webpage…
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_update/wkxzteq.shtml
…more warm subsurface water may rise to the surface during this El Nino.
http://i50.tinypic.com/110y9ad.gif
NOAA Equatorial Pacific Cross-Section - Temperature Anomaly Animation

Preliminary monthly NINO3.4 SST anomalies for December 2009 show an increase of 0.14 deg C to 1.81 deg C.
http://i50.tinypic.com/j5a0lu.png
Preliminary December 2009 NINO3.4 SST Anomalies

And the preliminary global SST anomalies for December 2009 are showing an increase of 0.03 deg C to 0.29 deg C.
http://i49.tinypic.com/2cct3zo.png
Preliminary December 2009 Global SST Anomalies

The preliminary monthly SST Anomalies are presented by the NOAA NOMADS webpage, but they will be updated over the next few weeks and will be finalized on January 11, 2010, according to the OI.v2 FAQ webpage:
http://www.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/research/cmb/sst_analysis/FAQ.html

And for those wondering about the hotspot in the mid-to-high latitudes of central South Pacific, it is an area that is correlated with NINO3.4 SST anomalies. Refer to the following maps of time sequence of temperature anomaly correlations from Trenberth et al (2002) "Evolution of El Nino–Southern Oscillation and global atmospheric surface temperatures":http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/cas/papers/2000JD000298.pdf

http://i47.tinypic.com/261e1lf.png
Trenberth et al (2002) Figure 8

SOURCE
OI.v2 SST data is available through the NOAA NOMADS webpage:
http://nomad3.ncep.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/pdisp_sst.sh?lite=

Happy Holidays

I’ve moved to WordPress.  This post can now be found at Happy Holidays

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Enjoy your holidays.

Regards

Bob Tisdale

Mid-December 2009 SST Anomaly Update

I’ve moved to WordPress.  This post can now be found at Mid-December 2009 SST Anomaly Update

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NINO3.4 SST anomalies, Figure 1, and Global SST anomalies, Figure 2, have both increased over the past few weeks. For the week centered on December 16th, NINO3.4 SST anomalies were 1.85 deg C.

http://i45.tinypic.com/ofbmhg.png
Figure 1 - NINO3.4 SST Anomalies

http://i45.tinypic.com/246ltua.png
Figure 2 - Global SST Anomalies

And for those interested in the global SST anomaly map for that week:

http://i48.tinypic.com/23hm5w3.png
Figure 3 - Global SST Anomaly Map

SOURCE

OI.v2 SST anomaly data is available through the NOAA NOMADS webpage:
http://nomad3.ncep.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/pdisp_sst.sh?lite=