Define El Niño and Southern Oscillation and explain how they combine to affect weather in North America

What will be an ideal response?


Answer: An El Niño develops when the trade winds weaken or even reverse and flow eastward. The warm water normally found in the western Pacific gradually "sloshes" eastward as a slowly moving wave, in part due to the higher sea level, and eventually makes its way to the coast of North and South America. The eastern Pacific warms, upwelling weakens, and the warm surface layer deepens both there and throughout the tropical Pacific basin. The change in sea-surface conditions linked with the change in the atmospheric pressure distribution is called the Southern Oscillation. The El Niño and Southern Oscillation are closely intertwined, and atmospheric scientists refer to their combined occurrences as ENSO events.

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences

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Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences