Figure 13 shows two images that show sea surface temperature anomalies during an El Niño as ‘heat maps’ of the globe. The heat maps use a rainbow colour scale to represent temperature changes, with areas coloured red showing a warming and violet showing a cooling.
Figure 13a shows the characteristic pattern of eastern Pacific warming. This global image shows a band coloured red across most of the equator in the Pacific Ocean, indicating temperature increases up to 4 °C.
Figure 13b shows the characteristic pattern of eastern Pacific and cooling. This global image shows a band coloured blue across most of the equator in the Pacific Ocean, indicating temperature decreases up to 4 °C.