Pan-American Climate Studies

The data used to create the following plots of SST are part of the Reynolds SST data set (Reynolds and Smith, 1994). These figures are for the tropics in 1994.

This plot shows SST during the spring Equinox, when the sun is directly over the equator during the transition between boreal winter and summer. The Atlantic is very warm along the equator, but we can see the cold tongue beginning to develop in the Pacific off the Peruvian coast.

This plot shows SST during the boreal summer. The equatorial cold tongue has developed in the Atlantic as well as in the Pacific.

This plot shows SST during the fall Equinox. The cold water covers the entire equatorial Atlantic and is more widespread and colder in the Pacific than during the boreal summer months.

This plot shows SST during the boreal mid-winter. The water along the equator in the Atlantic is beginning to warm up and the cold tongue region in the equatorial Pacific is dimishing.