El Niño and the sea surface

ESA’s Climate Change Initiative provides satellite observations to monitor El Niño and La Niña in a changing global climate. The effects of periodic climate disturbances reverberate around the world, influencing global temperature and exacerbating regional floods and drought severity.

Climate models have historically used sea surface temperature to simulate the development of El Niño.  Incorporating sea surface salinity data, however, further improves the prediction of the timing, duration, and intensity of El Niño events.