Oceans & climate · Sea-surface observations
A changing ocean
Warm water is not always unusually warm. Compare the temperature itself with its departure from the seasonal average.
Captured for the journal
30 September 2026
Captured 00:07 UTC. Each product retains its own observation or issue date. This is a saved daily record, not a live warning service.
The ocean surface
Tap the map to inspect the nearest sampled ocean point.
Inspect a coordinate without the map
Temperature ≠ anomaly
A tropical sea can be warm but close to its seasonal average. A cooler northern sea can be unusually warm for the date. The anomaly layer makes that difference visible.
Read the dates
These preliminary observations typically arrive after the day they describe. The date above the map is the observation date, while the page date records when we captured it. NOAA may later revise its analysis; this capture is retained.
The Pacific connection
The outlined Niño 3.4 region helps locate the part of the Pacific used in ENSO monitoring. A single daily map cannot establish El Niño or La Niña.
Explore the ENSO record ↗Sources in this capture
Captured · 2026-09-30 00:07 UTC
Captured · 2026-09-30 00:07 UTC
Captured · 2026-09-30 00:07 UTC
Captured · 2026-09-30 00:07 UTC