Free to good home! Almost all Climate.gov and Climate.us images are free for re-use. This page gathers up links to our most popular El Niño and La Niña images.
Understanding Climate
Explainers, factsheets, reports, and other resources
In the past 60 years, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased 100-200 times faster than it did during the end of the last ice age.
Present since the last ice age, most of the world's glaciers are now shrinking or disappearing altogether as the climate gets warmer.
The North Atlantic Oscillation tracks a seesawing of surface pressure between two parts of the North Atlantic. Different phases often bring predictable changes in winds, temperature, and precipitation in the United States and Europe.
The Pacific-North American teleconnection pattern influences regional weather by affecting the strength and location of the East Asian jet stream, and subsequently, the weather it delivers to North America.
Global average sea level has risen at least 8-9 inches since 1880, and the rate is accelerating thanks to glacier and ice sheet melt.
The Relative Oceanic Niño Index tracks sea surface temperature in the east-central tropical Pacific Ocean. It is NOAA's primary indicator of El Niño and La Niña.
Earth's surface temperature has risen about 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the start of the NOAA record in 1850. It may seem like a small change, but it's a tremendous increase in stored heat.
The Arctic Oscillation (AO) refers to an atmospheric circulation pattern over the mid-to-high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The most obvious reflection of the phase of this oscillation is the north-to-south location of the storm-steering, mid-latitude jet stream.
The Southern Oscillation Index tracks differences in air pressure between the eastern and western sides of the tropical Pacific.