ATOC 185 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Teleconnection, Upwelling, Thermocline
14 Jul 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
El nino is a warming of the waters in the equatorial east pacific. This warming can have significant impacts on the weather across large parts of the globe. El nino also results in perhaps the most well known atmospheric teleconnection pattern. Association with unusual weather patterns that affect much of the world and persist for a season or more. During some years, the water remains especially warm and the break in the fishing season extends to may. Temperatures in the ocean decrease rapidly with increasing depth. Upwelling can locally cool surface water temperatures by bringing cold water up from underneath. This allows the warm pool of surface water in the western tropical pacific to extend farther east, to the peruvian coast. Warm water suppresses upwelling of cold, nutrient rich water from below. Occurs every 3-7 years, a result of complex air-sea interaction in tropical pacific. Ocean surface temperatures may affect the intensity of individual extreme weather events.
