This visualization from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2013 shows sea surface temperatures (SST) in the Eastern Pacific near Central America at 1-kilometer (~0.6 mile) resolution. Cold SSTs are clearly visible off the Central American coast from October to March. Such cooling events are associated with accelerated winds that blow through gaps in the mountainous terrain of Central America.

The Multi-scale Ultra-high Resolution (MUR) SST dataset, used to create this visualization, combines data from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E), and WindSat Polarimetric Radiometer. (MUR SST DOI: 10.5067/GHGMR-4FJ04).