Current Sea Surface Temperatures Rising in the Gulf of Mexico
Sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico rise due to natural summer warming. These warm surface temperatures are a contributing factor to favorable conditions that can lead to the formation of tropical storms and hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and off the East Coast of the United States. In general, hurricanes tend to form over warm ocean water whose temperature is 82 degrees Fahrenheit (approximately 27.7 degrees Celsius) or higher. These areas are depicted in yellow, orange, and red. This blended microwave- and infrared-wavelength data was taken by the AMSR-E and MODIS instruments aboard the Aqua satellite, and the TMI instrument aboard the TRMM satellite. This animation updates every 24 hours.
This animation shows the progression of warm waters slowly filling the Gulf of Mexico (shown in yellow, orange, and red). This natural annual warming contributes to the possible formation of hurricanes in the Gulf. SST data shown here ranges from January 1 to the present.
The legend for sea surface temperature. The color scale ranges from dark blue for areas below 15C to dark red for regions above 35C.
High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2008-01-01.
High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2008-02-01.
High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2008-03-01.
High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2008-04-01.
High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2008-05-01.
High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2008-06-01.
High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2008-07-01.
High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2008-08-01.
High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2008-09-01.
High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2008-10-01.
High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2008-11-01.
High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2008-12-01.
High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2009-01-02.
High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2009-02-01.
High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2009-03-01.
High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2009-04-02.
High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2009-05-01.
High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2009-06-01.
High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2009-07-01.
High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2009-08-01.
High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2009-09-01.
High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2009-10-01.
High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2009-11-01.
High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2009-12-01.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio
-
Animators
- Trent L. Schindler (UMBC)
- Alex Kekesi (Global Science and Technology, Inc.)
- Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC)
-
Scientists
- David Adamec (NASA/GSFC)
- Jeff Halverson (JCET UMBC)
- Scott Braun (NASA/GSFC)
- Owen Kelley (George Mason University)
Release date
This page was originally published on Thursday, September 11, 2008.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:55 PM EDT.
Missions
This visualization is related to the following missions:Series
This visualization can be found in the following series:Datasets used in this visualization
-
[Aqua: MODIS]
ID: 5 -
[TRMM: TMI]
ID: 110 -
Sea Surface Temperature [Aqua: AMSR-E]
ID: 238
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.