Sea surface temperature temperature pattern is when warm water spreads from the west Pacific and the Indian Ocean to the east Pacific. It takes the rain with it, causing extensive drought in the western Pacific and rainfall in the normally dry eastern Pacific. El Niño's warm rush of nutrient-poor tropical water, heated by its eastward passage in the Equatorial Current, replaces the cold, nutrient-rich surface water of the Humboldt Current. When El Niño conditions last for many months, extensive ocean warming and the reduction in Easterly Trade winds limits upwelling of cold nutrient-rich deep water and its economic impact to local fishing for
Ocean observations Ocean observations The following are considered essential ocean climate variables by the Ocean Observations Panel for Climate (OOPC) that are currently feasible with current observational systems . Air Temperature Precipitation (meteorology) evaporation Air Pressure, sea level pressure (SLP) Surface radiative fluxes Surface thermodynamic fluxes Wind speed and direction Surface wind stress Water vapor Sea surface temperature (SST) Sea surface salinity (SSS) Sea level Sea state Sea ice Ocean current Ocean color (for biological activity) Carbon dioxide partial pressure (pCO2) There is a composite network of satellites that generate observations. These include: There is a composite network of in situ observations.