The 1991-93 Los Ninos from ERS-1 Altimetry

John Lillibridge, Bob Cheney, and Nancy Doyle

Proc. 2nd ERS-1 Symp. Hamburg, Germany, October 1993.

National Ocean Service, NOAA, Silver Spring MD 20910

ABSTRACT

ERS-1 fast delivery altimeter data have been used at NOAA since early 1992 to monitor monthly mean sea level in the tropical Pacific. Using data extending back to September 1991, we have produced monthly maps of sea level anomaly spanning the unusual 1991-93 Los Ninos (alternating warm-cold-warm events) in the tropical Pacific. In addition, new ERS-1 orbits computed by the Delft University of Technology have decreased the radial orbit error by more than an order of magnitude to approximately 15 cm. This will enable more accurate recovery of altimetric sea level changes.