Previous Animation Next Animation 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. Duration: 13.0 seconds Available formats:   1280x720 (30 fps) Frames (Images)   1280x720 (30 fps) Frames (Dates)   512x288 (30 fps) MPEG-1   4 MB   1280x720 (30 fps) MPEG-2   23 MB   1280x720 (30 fps) MPEG-4   5 MB   2560x1920 TIFF         7 MB   320x180     PNG           289 KB   160x90       PNG           75 KB   80x45         PNG           19 KB How to play our movies    The legend for sea surface temperature. The color scale ranges from dark blue for areas below 15C to dark red for regions above 35C. Available formats:   320 x 90           PNG         9 KB    High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2008-01-01. Available formats:   2560 x 1440     TIFF 3 MB   320 x 180         PNG     290 KB    High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2008-02-01. Available formats:   2560 x 1440     TIFF 3 MB   320 x 180         PNG     287 KB    High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2008-03-01. Available formats:   2560 x 1440     TIFF 3 MB   320 x 180         PNG     288 KB    High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2008-04-01. Available formats:   2560 x 1440     TIFF 3 MB   320 x 180         PNG     287 KB    High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2008-05-01. Available formats:   2560 x 1440     TIFF 3 MB   320 x 180         PNG     289 KB    High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2008-06-01. Available formats:   2560 x 1440     TIFF 4 MB   320 x 180         PNG     292 KB    High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2008-07-01. Available formats:   2560 x 1440     TIFF 4 MB   320 x 180         PNG     295 KB    High definition version of sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic on 2008-08-01. Available formats:   2560 x 1440     TIFF 4 MB   320 x 180         PNG     290 KB Animation Number: 3532 Completed: 2008-08-18 Animators: Trent L. Schindler (UMBC) (Lead)   Alex Kekesi (GST)   Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC) Scientists: David Adamec (NASA/GSFC)   Jeff Halverson (JCET UMBC)   Scott Braun (NASA/GSFC)   Owen Kelley (George Mason University) Platforms/Sensors/Data Sets: Aqua/AMSR-E   Aqua/MODIS   TRMM/TMI   Aqua/AMSR-E/Sea Surface Temperature Data Collected: 1/1/08 - present Series: Hurricane-SST Connection   Updates Regularly Keywords: SVS >> HDTV DLESE >> Physical oceanography GCMD >> EARTH SCIENCE >> Oceans >> Ocean Temperature >> Sea Surface Temperature     Please give credit for this item to: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio Back to Top

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