El Nino / La Nina in the SST CCI Analysis

The time-evolution of sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly along the equator, displaying the SST component of the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon. SST anomaly is the deviation of SST from the value typical for a given location and time of year. The major ENSO event of 1997/8 stands out (orange and red). The data are from ESA's Climate Change Iniative project on SST, and are a blend of Along Track Scanning Radiometer (ATSR) and Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer SSTs. The ATSR series has a particular role in the project of stabilising the observational accuracy across all other satellite data streams. This use of ATSRs depends on their dual-viewing capability. The next such instrument will be the Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer (SLSTR) on Sentinel-3.