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TOPEX

 SATELLITE SEA SURFACE HEIGHT

The pictorial false color image below and the data table for one degee latitude and longitude cells are derived from TOPEX satellite altimetry data for November 16, 1997. The white portion is the highest part of the ocean compared to normal conditions.  Warm water is less dense than cool water and floats above the surrounding cooler water.

picture of El Nino 1997 in Pacific Ocean in false color

color code for excess sea surface heights from radar altimetry

 

Excess sea surface heights in millimeters for one degree latitude and one degree longitude cells from 5 S to 5 N and 150 W to 90 W on November 16, 1997.  

lng\lat 4.5S 3.5S 2.5S 1.5S  0.5S 0.5N 1.5N 2.5N 3.5N 4.5N
150W -040 072 145 194 220 224 197 154 118 093
140W 060 165 248 309 350 360 335 290 240 194
130W 134 242 329 391 431 440 411 356 296 247
120W 187 286 356 405 438 447 425 377 318 263
110W 216 293 359 422 456 451 423 372 304 249
100W 274 303 341 393 434 454 441 404 356 305
090W 230 268 306 332 358 383 384 369 346 315

 

The cell data and the pictorial representation of the relative TOPEX altimetry data of the Pacific basin were very kindly provided by the TOPEX/POSEIDON Project conducted by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology under contract with NASA.

For additional data and pictorial representations visit NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, TOPEX Web site and NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) Web site. (Links are provided on my home page.)

Journal of Chemical Education cover featuring my TOPEX article.

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