El Niño/La Niña Watch & PDO
El Niño 2023
This animation shows the ongoing progress of the 2023 El Niño event. Like the historical images, these data are processed to remove the natural yearly cycle, and also the long-term trend caused by human interference with the climate. The remaining images show bursts of high sea level (red colors) moving eastward along the equator and building up warm water (and higher sea levels) in the far eastern Pacific. These traveling bursts of high sea level, called Kelvin waves, typically precede an El Nino event. This animation will continue to be updated as the 2023 event develops.
Press Release(s):
Explore Previous El Niño Events
El Niño 2015
El Niño 1997