El NinoSouthern Oscillation

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El Nino-Southern Oscillation
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What is El Nino?

• The periodic warming of the EASTERN
• and CENTRAL Pacific at low latitudes.
• El Nino originally coined to describe
• the warming of the coast of South America
• around Christmas time.
• In spite of the holy name .

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1982/83 and 1997/98 are the two most extreme El
Nino Events
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Wind-Driven Ocean Circulation
Gyres
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Normal Pacific Oceanic Patterns
ITCZ
El Nino
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Normal Pacific Oceanic Patterns
ITCZ
(Effect 2) Upwelling a. coastal
emptying b. Ekman
pumping or divergence
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Normal Pacific Oceanic Patterns (Low NINO3 T
Anomaly)
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El Nino Year (High NINO3 SST Anomaly)
Frequency 4-7 Years
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Making the Connection!
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The Frequency of ENSO events seems to be affected
by global warming
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ENSO YEARS
La Nina YEARS
ENSO Impact on the United States
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