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

El Nio, A Non-technical DescriptionAn El Nio is a temporary change in the humor of the Pacific ocean, in the region around the equator. You can see its cause in both the ocean and atmosphere, generally in Northern cerebral hemisphere winter. Typically, the ocean surface affectionates up by a few degrees celsius. At the same time, the place where hefty thunderstorms occur on the equator moves eastward. Although those mightiness count like small differences, it nevertheless can have big personal effects on the worlds climate.oWhat causes it? oWhat makes it s go 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 slue blows strongly from east to west along the equator in the Pacific. This actually heap up water (about half a meters worth) in the western grapheme of the Pacific. In the eastern part, deeper water (which is colder than the sun-warmed surface water) gets pulled up from below to replace the water pushed west. So, the normal situation is warm water (about 30 C) in the west, cold (about 22 C) in the east.In an El Nio, the winds displace 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 practically cold water gets pulled up from below. Both these scarper to make the water in the eastern Pacific fastball, which is matchless of the hallmarks of an El Nio.But it doesnt stop there. The warmer ocean then 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 jars, but you might not know how many kinds of waves there are. Theres one called a Rossby wave that is quite unlike the waves you see when you vi sit the beach. Its more like a distant cousin to a tidal wave. The difference is that a tidal wave goes very quickly, with all the water moving pretty much in the same direction. In a Rossby wave, the upper part of the ocean, vocalise 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.