Updated at the beginning of every month Sea level remains near normal levels over most of the equatorial Pacific. Sea level in the central equatorial Pacific is still lower than normal, but it is not as low as it was during the peak of the La Nina. Indications continue to be that the La Nina phase has ended and the Pacific is returning to normal conditions. The figure below shows the time evolution of the average sea level change in the eastern, central, and western equatorial Pacific.
Sea level is now near normal in all regions.
The file is about 10 Mb in size, so it may take a few minutes to download completely. The Animation starts in December 1996 and ends in December 1998. It will loop back to the beginning at the end. Sea level remained low throughout the central and eastern Pacific for the remainder of 1998. Another way to see the Kelvin waves is via a time-longitude plot centered at the equator.