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The Seafloor Focuses and Merges Tsunami Waves
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Published March 12, 2012
Even at great distances from their source, tsunami waves can grow by being focused and steered by underwater ridges.
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La Nina in progress
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Published September 19, 2010
Acquired September 6, 2010, this map shows cooling in the central Pacific Ocean consistent with La Niña conditions.
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Adios El Nino, Hello La Nina?
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Published June 24, 2010
A strip of cold water hugging the equator in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean in mid-June may foreshadow a transition from El Niño to La Niña conditions
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Kelvin Wave Renews El Niño
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Published March 21, 2010
A trio of globes of sea surface height anomalies shows a deep pulse of warm water—a Kelvin wave—crossing the Pacific Ocean in February 2010. Kelvin waves strengthen and maintain El Niño episodes.
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La Nina Strengthens in Autumn 2007
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Published November 10, 2007
Continuing a pattern that had been building for nine months, La Niña strengthened in the fall of 2007.
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Satellites Detect Deep-Ocean Whirlpools
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Published March 23, 2006
Submerged in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Spain and Portugal are giant, salty whirlpools of warm water. These deep-water whirlpools are part of the ocean’s circulatory system, and they help drive the ocean currents that moderate Earth’s climate. Warm water ordinarily sits at the ocean’s surface, but the warm water flowing out of the Mediterranean Sea is so salty (and therefore dense) that when it enters the Atlantic Ocean at the Strait of Gibraltar, it sinks to depths of more than 1,000 meters (one-half mile) along the continental shelf. This underwater river then separates into clockwise-flowing eddies that may continue to spin westward for more than two years, often coalescing with other eddies to form giant, salty whirlpools that may stretch for hundreds of miles. Because the eddies originate from the Mediterranean Sea, scientists call them “Meddies.”
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Hurricane Rita Roars through a Warm Gulf
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Published September 23, 2005
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Satellites Map Tsunami Wave Height
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Published January 20, 2005
Sent into orbit to record the shape of the ocean’s surface, two satellites helped scientists understand a deadly tsunami in the Indian Ocean.
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