article_snippet: Scientists have announced that sea surface water temperatures have been warmer than average in the western and central Pacific Ocean and have started to alter wind patterns.
article_snippet: The US US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Atmospheric Administration has detected warmer than average water surface temperatures around the equator of the Pacific Ocean (shown above) which indicates the arrival of El Niño .
article_snippet: Mike Halpert, deputy director of NOAA's Climate Prediction Centre, said: 'Based on the persistent observations of above-average sea surface temperatures across the western and central equatorial Pacific Ocean and consistent pattern of sea level pressure, we can now say that an El Niño is here. '
article_snippet: The above diagram shows the sea surface temperature (SST) in the Pacific Ocean on 25 Feburary 2015 and it can be seen that around the equator the temperature was above average (marked by red) on that date .
article_snippet: the NOAA the NOAA said that last week the sea temperature across much of the Pacific Ocean has been above average.
article_snippet: last week the sea temperature across much of the equatorial Pacific Ocean has been above average also found that unusually weak easterly winds have persisted across the Pacific Ocean.
highlights_snippet: US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declares warmer than average water in Pacific Ocean signal the arrival of El Niño conditions .
  