What do scientists think about the causes of El Nino?

What do scientists think about the causes of El Niño?

Every two to seven years, abnormally warm water in the Pacific Ocean causes an atmospheric disturbance called El Niño. Now scientists have new evidence indicating El Niño conditions might also add extra carbon dioxide to the atmosphere as well as lessen the ability of trees to absorb the greenhouse gas.

What is the science behind El Niño?

El Niño occurs when the waters of the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean are unusually warm. This happens periodically (every 2 to 7 years). The warmer water temperatures impact trade winds and storm patterns with important consequences for weather across the globe.

How do scientists study El Niño?

Using data from the buoys, along with visual imagery they receive from satellite imagery, scientists are able to more accurately predict El Niño and visualize its development and impact around the globe. El Niño events happen as warm trade winds heat up the surface waters of the tropical Pacific Ocean.

How do scientists collect data about El Niño?

Researchers use data from NASA Earth observing satellites to create telling images of how El Niño events form in the ocean, and the factors that may impact its strength and duration in a given climate cycle.

Why do you think it is important for climate scientists to study El Niño?

That background seasonal climate helps determine what the impacts of the El Niño are. “The seasonality—what the weather and the climate is typically at that time of year—is important to how ENSO impacts it,” Goddard said. So knowing when El Niño will kick in is key to anticipating economic and societal impacts.

Why does El Niño occur?

An El Niño condition occurs when surface water in the equatorial Pacific becomes warmer than average and east winds blow weaker than normal. During this phase of ENSO, the water is cooler than normal and the east winds are stronger. El Niños typically occur every 3 to 5 years.

How do scientists collect data on El Niño and La Niña events?

Scientists collect data about El Niño and La Niña using a number of technologies. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), for instance, operates a network of buoys which measure sea-surface temperature, air temperature, currents, winds, and humidity.

Where does it happen El Niño?

El Niño is a weather pattern that occurs in the Pacific Ocean. During this time, unusual winds cause warm surface water from the equator to move east, toward Central and South America.

Why is El Niño important in climate?

This warming of the ocean causes major changes to typical global atmospheric circulation patterns. In other words, El Niño creates a domino effect—and this often triggers or intensifies weather extremes all over the world.

How are scientists able to predict El Nino?

Using data from the buoys, along with visual imagery they receive from satellite imagery, scientists are able to more accurately predict El Niño and visualize its development and impact around the globe. El Niño events happen as warm trade winds heat up the surface waters of the tropical Pacific Ocean.

How does El Nino and La Nina occur?

El Niño happens when tropical Pacific Ocean trade winds die out and ocean temperatures become unusually warm. There is a flip side to El Niño called La Niña, which occurs when the trade winds blow unusually hard and the sea temperature become colder than normal.

What’s the difference between El Nino and ENSO?

Today, most scientists use the terms El Niño and ENSO interchangeably. Scientists use the Oceanic Nino Index (ONI) to measure deviations from normal sea surface temperatures. El Niño events are indicated by sea surface temperature increases of more than 0.9° Fahrenheit for at least five successive three-month seasons.

How are El Ninos detected in the Pacific Ocean?

In the tropical Pacific Ocean, El Niños are detected by many methods, including in situ observing systems (moored buoys, drifting buoys, sea level analysis, and XBTs) and satellites. Combined, these form an operational El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) observing system.