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Ocean Surface Topography from Space
Latest El Niño/La Niña Watch Data
LATEST IMAGES - 07/21/2015
Archive of All Images

These are the latest images from the OSTM/Jason-2 satellite. Jason-2 continues providing the uninterrupted time-series that originated with TOPEX/Poseidon. Jason is using radar altimetry to collect sea surface height data of all the world's oceans. These images are processed to highlight the interannual signal of sea surface height. The mean signal, seasonal signal, and the trend have been removed.

What is sea-surface height?

Artist's concept of sea-surface height.
The height (or "relief") of the sea surface is caused by both gravity (which doesn't change much over 100's of years), and the active (always changing) ocean circulation. The normal slow, regular circulation (ocean current) patterns of sea-surface height move up and down (warming and cooling and wind forcing) with the normal progression of the seasons ... winter to spring to summer to fall. Using theory of ocean dynamics, TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason sea-surface heights can be used to calculate how much heat is stored in the ocean below. The year-to-year and, even, decade-to-decade changes in the ocean that indicate climate events such as the El Niño, La Niña and Pacific Decadal Oscillation are dramatically visualized by these data. Sea-surface height is the most modern and powerful tool for taking the "pulse" of the global oceans.

What are we looking at?


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