Topex/Poseidon keeping an eye on El Niño
A recurring climatic anomaly
The phenomenon, observed for milleniums, is characterized by an anomaly of temperature located along the Peruvian coast. El Niño appears every 2 to 7 years, creating disturbances with sometimes catastrophic economic and ecological consequences.
The El Niño phenomenon observed by Topex/Poseidon in 1997.
During an El Niño, enormous masses of warm water are transported eastward along the equator, sometimes raising the sea level by as much as 25 cm. The phenomenon leads to considerable transfers of heat from the ocean to the atmosphere, triggering cyclones and torrential rains along the South American coast. Conversely, on the western side of the Pacific, where surface water is cooler, drought conditions predominate.
Topex/Poseidon now enables scientists to monitor such anomalies with great precision, which improves modelling thus ultimately making it possible to predict their evolution.
Topex/Poseidon discovers an El Niño in the Atlantic
Thus in 1995, abnormal rises in sea levels created by the presence of warm water in the Gulf of Guinea were found to be fuelling significant climatic disturbances in neighbouring countries.
