1 / 29

Climate Change

Learn about the El-Nino phenomenon, its history, and its impact on global climate patterns. Explore the complex interactions between the Earth's physical, biological, and chemical environments that contribute to El-Nino. Discover how El-Nino leads to dramatic changes in weather patterns, affecting regions such as South America, Indonesia, and Australia.

rosebowen
Download Presentation

Climate Change

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Climate Change El-Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Phenomena

  2. El-Nino

  3. El Nino • Christ child • El Nino patterns are first recognized during the Christmas season. • Complex interactions between the Earth’s • Physical • Biological • Chemical environments

  4. El-Nino Geography

  5. Physical conditions • Atmosphere • Ocean circulation pattern • Ocean surface temperatures

  6. The atmosphere • Trade winds feed into, • Walker cell • Hadley cell • Resulting precipitation patterns

  7. Normal Conditions Walker Cell Equator Sea level Thermocline Upwelling Conditions

  8. The Atmosphere/Ocean connection • Feed off one another, • Makes for a very complex story • Overhead!

  9. Pacific Ocean surface currents • Driven by atmospheric circulation • North Equatorial (NEC) • South Equatorial (SEC) • North Equatorial Counter Current (NECC) • Peru Current

  10. SST, Sea surface temperatures • Key identifier of a changing climate. • Non El Nino years • Coastal Peru • Winter 18 C (25 C) • Coldest tropical water on Earth • TAO array of moored buoys.

  11. TAO array of moored buoys

  12. Important subsurface currents • Equatorial Undercurrent • The Peru surface current and equatorial upwelling.

  13. Upwelling along western coast of South America • Influx of Antarctic water, August (winter). • Brings nutrients to the surface • Producing abundant diversity • Plankton • Anchovies • Tuna • Sea birds • Marine mammals

  14. Cool dry air sinks Warm moist air rises Indonesia South America

  15. El Nino phenomenon leads to dramatic changes • Starts with: Failure of southern trade winds around December • Warming of the ocean off Peru • Decrease in bio-productivity off Peru • Increase in eastern Pacific rainfall • Decrease in western Pacific rainfall • Development of winds from the west

  16. NOAA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

  17. El-Nino History • Approx. 5,000 years ago the cycle begins • Recurrence interval, 2 to 7 years • Over the past 465 years, there have been 9 severe El-Nino events. (Avg. 1 event per 50 years)

  18. El-Nino Bi-products • Flooding in South America (Peru) • Drought/wildfires in Indonesia and Australia • Variable effects throughout the United States.

  19. Ecuador

More Related