ENSO and Sea Surface Temperatures
Positive SST anomalies in the western Equatorial Pacific Neutral ENSO conditions till early 2004
The Equatorial Pacific remains in a neutral state, with little change in ENSO indices from August. The equatorial sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies are generally positive in the western Pacific. The NINO3 SST anomaly was about +0.3°C in September (from +0.3°C in August). NINO4 remained unchanged at +0.7°C. The three month (July-September) means were +0.35°C and +0.7°C for NINO3 and NINO4, respectively. Slightly below average SSTs are confined to the far eastern Pacific.
Subsurface ocean temperature anomalies are weakly positive west from about 110°W westward. The tradewinds are slightly weaker than average west of the Date Line, but near average in strength in the east.
Almost all global climate models indicate neutral conditions until early 2004.
Sea surface temperature anomalies (°C) for September 2003
Mean sea surface temperatures (°C) for September 2003
