El Niño, A Non-technical Description :: essays research papers

El Nio, A Non-technical DescriptionAn El Nio is a impermanent change in the climate of the Pacific ocean, in the region around the equator. You can see its personal effects in both the ocean and atmosphere, generally in Northern Hemisphere winter. Typically, the ocean surface warms up by a few degrees celsius. At the same time, the place where hefty thunderstorms occur on the equator moves eastward. Although those might seem like small differences, it nevertheless can have big effects on the worlds climate.oWhat causes it? oWhat makes it s enlighten growing? oWhat effects does it have? oHow long does it last? oHow often do we get them? oHow well can we predict El Nio? oA more technical explanation What causes it?Usually, the wind blows strongly from east to west along the equator in the Pacific. This actually piles up pissing (about half a meters worth) in the western part of the Pacific. In the eastern part, deeper water (which is colder than the sun-warmed surface water) gets pu lled up from below to replace the water pushed west. So, the normal stead is warm water (about 30 C) in the west, cold (about 22 C) in the east.In an El Nio, the winds pushing that water around get weaker. As a result, some of the warm water piled up in the west slumps back down to the east, and not as much cold water gets pulled up from below. Both these tend to make the water in the eastern Pacific warmer, which is one of the hallmarks of an El Nio.But it doesnt stop there. The warmer ocean then(prenominal) affects the winds--it makes the winds weaker So if the winds get weaker, then the ocean gets warmer, which makes the winds get weaker, which makes the ocean get warmer ... this is called a positive feedback, and is what makes an El Nio grow.Back to top So what makes it stop growing?The ocean is full of waves, but you might not know how many kinds of waves there are. Theres one called a Rossby wave that is preferably unlike the waves you see when you visit the beach. Its more like a distant cousin to a tidal wave. The difference is that a tidal wave goes rattling quickly, with all the water pitiable pretty much in the same direction. In a Rossby wave, the upper part of the ocean, say the top 100 meters or so, will be lesirely sliding one way, while the lower part, starting at 100 meters and going on down, will be slowly moving the other way.