Tropical
Highlights - March 2015
During March
2015, sea surface temperatures (SSTs) remained above-average across the western and central equatorial
Pacific (Fig. T18,
Table T2). The latest
monthly
Niņo indices were +1.1C for the Niņo 4
region, +0.6C
for the Niņo 3.4 region, and +0.1C for the Niņo 1+2 region (Table
T2, Fig. T5). The depth of the oceanic thermocline (measured
by the depth of the 20C isotherm) was above-average across the central and
east-central equatorial Pacific (Figs. T15, T16), and the corresponding sub-surface
temperatures were 1-5C above average (Fig.
T17).
Also
during March, the low-level westerly wind anomalies continued over the western equatorial
Pacific (Table T1,
Fig. T20) and upper-level easterly wind
anomalies continued over the west-central equatorial Pacific (Fig.T21). Meanwhile,
enhanced convection was observed across the central equatorial Pacific (Figs. T25, E3). Collectively, these oceanic and
atmospheric anomalies are consistent with weak El Niņo conditions.
For the
latest status of the ENSO cycle see the ENSO Diagnostic Discussion at:
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/index.html