El Niño and La Niña refer to the periodic warming and cooling of surface waters in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, which affects global weather patterns and regional climates worldwide. El Niño is characterized by unusually warm ocean temperatures in this region, while La Niña features unusually cool temperatures. This phenomenon, known as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), occurs every 3-4 years as changes in atmospheric pressure and ocean currents cause the water temperatures to fluctuate between these warm and cool phases.
El Niño and La Niña refer to the periodic warming and cooling of surface waters in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, which affects global weather patterns and regional climates worldwide. El Niño is characterized by unusually warm ocean temperatures in this region, while La Niña features unusually cool temperatures. This phenomenon, known as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), occurs every 3-4 years as changes in atmospheric pressure and ocean currents cause the water temperatures to fluctuate between these warm and cool phases.
El Niño and La Niña refer to the periodic warming and cooling of surface waters in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, which affects global weather patterns and regional climates worldwide. El Niño is characterized by unusually warm ocean temperatures in this region, while La Niña features unusually cool temperatures. This phenomenon, known as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), occurs every 3-4 years as changes in atmospheric pressure and ocean currents cause the water temperatures to fluctuate between these warm and cool phases.
El Niño and La Niña refer to the periodic warming and cooling of surface waters in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, which affects global weather patterns and regional climates worldwide. El Niño is characterized by unusually warm ocean temperatures in this region, while La Niña features unusually cool temperatures. This phenomenon, known as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), occurs every 3-4 years as changes in atmospheric pressure and ocean currents cause the water temperatures to fluctuate between these warm and cool phases.
El Nino and La Nina refer to the warming and cooling of surface waters over the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean which affect the atmospheric circulation worldwide and regional climate in many parts of the world.
El Nino and La Nina are characterised by large-scale sea surface temperature (SST) departures, sometimes referred to as anomalies, over the tropical Pacific Ocean. They occur when the SST in the tropical Pacific is much warmer (El Nio) or cooler (La Nia) than usual. This temperature change occurs due to change of atmospheric pressure between east and west tropical Pacific which is known as 'Southern Oscillation'. The Southern Oscillation is the atmospheric component of a single large-scale coupled interaction called the El Nio/Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The cycle of the water temperature changing from warm to cold usually occurs every three to four years. In the Northern Hemisphere, the peak season for El Nino and La Nina is during the winter
During normal condition trade winds blow westward across the Pacific, piling up warm surface water so that Indonesian sea levels are about 50 cm higher than those in Ecuador. Cool, nutrientrich sea water "wells up" off the South American coast, supporting marine ecosystems and fisheries. Relatively cold sea temperatures also extend along the equator from South America towards the central Pacific. High rainfall occurs in the rising air over the warmest water to the west, whereas the colder east Pacific is relatively dry. But during an ENSO event, ocean temperatures become warmer than usual or cooler than usual at different locations, which are reflected in ocean temperature gradients. The most important driver of ENSO is these temperature gradients across the Pacific, both at the surface and below the surface, particularly at the thermocline.
DURLOV JYOTI KALITA/104 El Nio (Warm Phase): During El Nio events, the trade winds weaken, leading to a rise in sea surface temperature in the eastern equatorial Pacific and a reduction of "up welling" off South America. This allows warm water in the western margin to slip back to the east by increasing the flow of the Equatorial Counter Current. Surface water temperatures and sea level decrease in the west and increase in the east, producing an event called El Nio. Heavy rainfall and flooding occur over Peru, and drought over Indonesia and Australia. The supplies of nutrient rich water off the South American coast are cut off due to the reduced up welling, adversely affecting fisheries in that region. In the tropical South Pacific the pattern of occurrence of tropical cyclones shifts eastward, so there are more cyclones than normal in areas such as the Cook Islands and French Polynesia. La Nia (Cool Phase): During La Nia events, the trade winds strengthen, and the pattern is a more intense version of the "normal conditions", with an even colder tongue of sea surface temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific. During a period of La Nia, the sea surface temperature across the equatorial Eastern Central Pacific Ocean becomes lower than normal by 35 C. In this phase on the western side of the Pacific, rainfall is generally heavier than normal but on the eastern side, the rainfall is reduced with cooler temperatures.