Weather buoy tropical Pacific Ocean helped study the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. Moored weather buoys range from in diameter, while drifting buoys are smaller, with diameters of . Drifting buoys are the dominant form of weather buoy in sheer number, with 1250 located worldwide. Wind data from buoys has smaller error than that from ships. There are differences in the values of sea surface temperature measurements between the two platforms as well, relating to the depth of the measurement and whether or not the water is heated by the ship which measures the quantity. The first known proposal for surface weather observations at
Sea level rise level rise from satellite altimetry have been estimated to be per year for the period 1993–2017. Earlier satellite measurements were previously at odds with tide gauge measurements. A small calibration error for the Topex/Poseidon satellite discovered in 2015 was identified as the cause of this mismatch. It had caused a slight overestimation of the 1992–2005 sea levels, which masked the ongoing sea level rise acceleration. With satellites it is possible to capture regional variations in sea level rise well. In the 1993–2012 period for instance, sea level rose substantially in the western tropical Pacific. The sharp rise in this area