1) What is the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO)?
The combination of El Nino and the Southern Oscillation goes by the acronym ENSO. Southern Oscillation is an index which observes higher than average air pressure and the temperature between the ocean and atmosphere in the east central equatorial pacific. El Nino is the warming of the ocean surface. According to NOAA, during this time frame rainfall over Indonesia reduces while rainfall increases over the tropical Pacific Ocean. The combination of El Nino and the Southern Oscillation is the year to year changes in sea surface temperatures, rainfall, surface air pressure and atmospheric circulation that happen over the equatorial Pacific Ocean. El Nino and La Nina are opposite phases of ENSO.
2) On average, how long does
…show more content…
El Nino is the warmer phase of ENSO. La Nina is the opposite. The impact of ENSO for North America results in increased precipitation along the Southern portion of North America and the west coast of Equatorial South America during the warm phase (El Nino). During the cool phase (La Nina) portion there is less precipitation in southern part of North America.
7) Describe the ENSO impact on climate in Australia and India (all three phases.)
During El Nino there is less precipitation over Australia. During La Nina there is increased humidity and precipitation inland over Australia. During the neutral phase the air rising in the west and falling in the east can be further described as Walker Circulation (an atmospheric loop where the trade winds blue from east to west in the Pacific).
During El Nino events in India temperatures may rise and drought conditions may be present. During La Nina India may experience heavy rains and increased monsoon
Mark Cane, scientist at Columbia University, discusses numerous places around the world that suffer famine and fires due to the effects of El Nino, even mentioning an occurrence here in the United States of an extreme snow storm caused by this event1. According to NOAA, El Nino occurs every 2-7 years and is detected by satellites, buoys, and sea level analysis . If scientists are aware of when El Nino is occurring then they are also aware of what changes in weather it is causing and can therefore connect these disasters to the event. It is
In small islands the numbers of cyclones are dominated both by El Niño Southern Oscillation and variability, the result is a reallocations of tropical storms and a change in the routes taken by them.
1. Life is more abundant in the North Atlantic than in the Pacific because the ocean area of the North Atlantic is directly in the path of iron-rich dust from the Sahara Desert, which leads to the development of bigger communities of phytoplankton, and in turn plankton, and so on. This fact is related to global warming because someone thought of an idea to fight global warming by putting huge amounts of iron solution into the ocean so that extreme plant growth would occur and these plants would remove enough carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere to counter the negative effects of humans.
The warming of the air brings with it a change in weather patterns across the globe. This change in weather patterns will include an increase in weather extremes such as, storms and drought. The type of extreme depends on a specific region with drought expected to increase in the dry tropics and with the frequency of tropical storms and rainfall expected to increase in the wet tropics.
Sydney is situated in zone of the subtropical oceanic climate which characterized by moderately hot summers and moderately warm winter. This climate conditions very favorable for people, animals and plants habitation. How we can see in the table "Mean Daily Temperatures", temperature does not fall below zero. It is congenially for agriculture, especially sowing corn. More than half of the arable land is occupied by wheat. In addition, people grow citrus, pineapples, mangoes and sugarcane.
Figure 1. Artistic rendition of a typical jet stream path during winter and summer months with related jet stream wind speeds. Higher upper level wind speeds occur in the winter, because Polar temperatures are colder creating a large temperature difference. (“Jet streams”, 2013).
The changes in the quantity and timing of precipitation and the availability of water will profoundly affect people and other life forms. Ecosystems will change and wildlife behavior and habitat as well as crop yields will eventually be affected. Climate change will also have an impact on water-related economic activity – not just agricultural methods, for example skiing areas, may experience decreased snowfall, having an adverse impact on the economies of mountain towns and cities.
In Ancient India they would always have to deal with the type of weather, especially monso...
"Ocean Events." GRACE â Uncovering the 2010-11 Decline in Global Mean Sea Level and Its Relation to ENSO (October, 2012). N.p., 8 Oct. 2012. Web. 2 Mar. 2014.
There are many causes and consequences of climate change discussed throughout this Encyclical. One of the most important would be the extreme weather. “In recent decades this warming has been accompanied by a constant rise in the sea level and, it would appear, by an increase of extreme weather events, even if a scientifically determined cause
During El Niño?s in the Pacific Northwest, the amount of precipitation greatly decreases, the winter temperatures get milder, and winter has below-average precipitation. Some economical and environmental impacts are that erosion is increasing due to severe storm surges, concerns that property built on low-lying areas or on top of unstable bluffs possibly be flooded or threatened by landslides due to regional climate changes, and various salmon species potentially endangered. In California, during El Nino?s they get extreme precipitation and snowfalls. Economical and environmental impacts are heavy precipitation, damage from debris flows or mudslides, and floods from the rain. El Nino seasons in Peru bring so much rainfall that there is now a lake made from the rain, compared to the desert it once was. Several economical and environmental impacts from El Nino include massive floods or mudslides, and since Peru lives in a cold-water zone, it carries many fish that are caught and sold commercially, but during El Nino, a layer of warm water covers the nutrient-rich east coast waters, abruptly stopping the upwelling and the nutrients fail to come up.
Climate change is evidenced through shifts in the weather patterns such as winds, humidity and temperatures over certain durations. Natural climate changes occur less frequently and they are triggered by factors related to geographical aspects as well as solar radiation. The earth’s movement on the orbit triggers changes in climate, causing some areas to have higher temperatures than usual, while others are significantly cold depending on the position of the earth on the orbit. The heat from the sun causes changes in the stratospheric ozone and it increases the amount of greenhouse gases. Heat from the oceanic crust also contributes to warming as a result of episodic hydrothermal venting (Liao & Sandeberg, 2012).
a change in the water cycle. Some places may experience more rain. Warmer temperatures will
...with warm currents or have a general amount of warm water, are more likely to be struck by tropical storms. There is another way that the ocean can change the environment is when tsunamis occur. These large waves move through the ocean and strike the land, but unlike normal waves that recede when they strike land, tsunamis continue miles inland. The ocean cycle is also responsible for the movement of nutrients through the environment. When tides move through the ocean they pull up nutrients that are located at the seafloor. Those nutrients then are moved with currents throughout the world. This is how the Ocean Cycle plays a role in the environment and Earth.
The image below clearly shows the fire prone areas during the different fire seasons. As seen the image, the fire season for most southern parts of Australia are during the spring and summer seasons. The north in