- Original Caption Released with Image: This image of the
Pacific Ocean was produced using sea surface height measurements
taken by the U.S.-French TOPEX/Poseidon satellite. The image
shows sea surface height relative to normal ocean conditions on
Jan. 8, 1998, and sea surface height is an indicator of the heat
content of the ocean. The volume of the warm water pool related
to the El Niņo has decreased by about 40 percent since its
maximum in early November, but the area of the warm water pool
is still about one and a half times the size of the continental
United States. The volume measurements are computed as the sum
of all the sea surface height changes as compared to normal
ocean conditions. In addition, the maximum water temperature in
the eastern tropical Pacific, as measured by the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is still higher
than normal. Until these high temperatures diminish, the El Niņo
warm water pool still has great potential to disrupt global
weather because the high wat