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El Nino Vs La Nina

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El Nino vs. La Nina
Introduction
Weather and climate scientists are investigating whether anthropogenic factors such as
greenhouse effects affect changes in strength in El Nino or La Nina. In essence, there are natural
processes that play a critical role in influencing the local weather, regional and global climatic
conditions. Well, some of the effects are as a result of fluctuations or oscillations and anomalies
in the complex ocean currents of the world. Some of these oscillations are El Nino and La Nina,
hence the primary focus of this paper is to examine what these oscillations are and their causes
and finally investigate the impact they have on weather conditions in North America
Body
General Description
According to the climate prediction center, there is a likelihood that during December, January,
February, and March there will be equal chances for average precipitation with above average
temperatures. The climate prediction center notes that one of the primary factors to affect the
amount of snow is the development of El Nino and La Nina events which happens across North
America. El Nino or La Nina refers to a recurring climate event that encompasses changes in
temperatures across the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. Therefore, La Nina or El Nino
events leads to periodic warming or cooling of the equatorial and central Pacific Ocean which is
meant to shift weather patterns and bring a more sustained warm, cold, wet or dry weather in the
parts of North America. It is predicted that between three to seven years, change in temperatures
anywhere from 10 to 30 Celsius (Erdman, 2017). It has a substantial effect on the jet stream and
thus impacts the entire winter weather patterns across North America.

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Atmospheric Circulation
The current conditions in the tropical Pacific Ocean suggest that the sea surface temperatures
were about 0.10 Celsius colder than the average temperatures in June and August which reflected
that the atmosphere was neutral during the summer where winds above the equatorial Pacific
were neither high nor weak, and there was an average pattern in rainfall and clouds. Well, while
neutrality prevailed during the summer that June and August, there were clear indications that
trade winds and temperatures over August were to change from the long-term mean -0.40
Celsius. In the past weeks, the El Nino Southern Oscillation ENSO has remained neutral, and as
a result of weak trade winds, it has upturned the cooling trend which was observed during the
winter period. Although the surface water temperature remains neutral, cool waters persist below
the water surface (Erdman, 2017). Changes in the wind at the water surface are triggered by the
presence of subsurface Kelvin waves. The trade winds travel from the east towards the west
across the Pacific Ocean and if the winds are weaker or stronger, then they can kick-off the
Kelvin waves which further push the surface waters and allowing colder water to be experienced
from the deep ocean.
Impact on Weather
La Nina or El Nino oscillations occur naturally in oceans across the globe and the oscillations
may have a greater or limited impact on the regional weather. La Nina and El Nino oscillations
have a more significant impact on our climate across the globe and the effects spread across the
world. Erratic oscillations cause problems that would lead to drought which affects fish
migrations and the areas that depend on the fish business. El Nino or La Nina leads to changes in
the atmospheric pressure and affect the rainfall and wind patterns; it also affects the sea water

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El Nino vs. La Nina Introduction Weather and climate scientists are investigating whether anthropogenic factors such as greenhouse effects affect changes in strength in El Nino or La Nina. In essence, there are natural processes that play a critical role in influencing the local weather, regional and global climatic conditions. Well, some of the effects are as a result of fluctuations or oscillations and anomalies in the complex ocean currents of the world. Some of these oscillations are El Nino and La Nina, hence the primary focus of this paper is to examine what these oscillations are and their causes and finally investigate the impact they have on weather conditions in North America Body General Description According to the climate prediction center, there is a likelihood that during December, January, February, and March there will be equal chances for average precipitation with abov ...
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