May 2026 Sea Surface Temperature Analysis
In May 2026, the sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly pattern notable warming emerging across most Niño regions in the tropical equatorial Pacific, with most prominent warming in the eastern Pacific.
Warm to slightly warm SST anomalies were present in the Philippine Sea, as well as in both the monitored northern and southern regions of the Tripole Pacific Index (TPI).
Meanwhile, considerable parts of the central North Pacific were considerably warmer, indicative of a negative PDO.
In the Indian Ocean, slightly warmer SST anomalies in the eastern Indian Ocean (i.e., EIO) while slightly cooler to near average SST anomalies in the western Indian Ocean (i.e., WIO)suggest a neutral Indian Ocean Dipole (i.e., IOD). Overall, the basin exhibited a weakly positive Indian Ocean Basin-Wide (IOBW) signal, characterized by generally warmer conditions.
Lastly, the tropical North Atlantic (i.e., TNA) indicates average to slightly cooler SST anomalies.
The maps on the right (top to bottom) indicate the observed SST for May 2026 and the climatological normal from 1991 to 2020, providing context for the SST anomaly maps.
