But it actually makes sense: El Ninos raise atmospheric temps because a deep pool of warm water in the western Pacific gets spread out over a larger area, raising sea surface temperatures over a big chunk of the Pacific. (tamino.wordpress.com)
As well, he mentions that overall atmospheric temps in the Arctic have remained quite warm (in an Arctic winter context) even as surface temps in many places have been quite low. (dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com)
But when the talk is about surface temps, the ocean surface temps are lumped in with atmospheric temps. (jennifermarohasy.com)