This figure displays a time series, in the form of vertical color bars, of the fraction of the area in the equatorial Pacific Ocean from 10°S to 10°N latitude and 85°W to 180°W longitude in which weekly sea surface temperatures are 28°C or greater.
In this plot the horizontal axis represents time in weeks and the vertical axis represents the fractional area, from 0 to 1. The height and colors of the color bars indicate the fraction of the area in which weekly sea surface temperatures are 28°C or greater. Dashed horizontal lines indicate the 0.25 and 0.75 fractional area (25% and 75%) thresholds, and the solid horizontal line indicates the 0.5 (50%) threshold. A sea surface temperature of 28°C is often used as an indicator for the potential for deep convection in the atmosphere over the tropical Pacific Ocean.
Contact help@iri.columbia.edu with any technical questions or problems with this Map Room.