What is the cause of rising surface temperature of the Pacific Ocean drought in the western United States and flooding on the Pacific coast of South America?

What is the cause of rising surface temperature of the Pacific Ocean drought in the western United States and flooding on the Pacific coast of South America?

Q. What is the cause of rising surface temperatures of the Pacific Ocean, drought in the western United States, and flooding on the Pacific coast of South America? El Nino carries warm water, increasing rainfall along the coast of Chile, while La Nina brings cold water upwellings to western South America.

What is the cause of rising surface temperature of the Pacific Ocean?

Normally, sea surface temperature is about 14°F (8°C) higher in the Western Pacific than the waters off South America. This is due to the trade winds blowing from east to west along the equator allowing the upwelling of cold, nutrient rich water from deeper levels off the northwest coast of South America.

What event causes the warming of water in the Pacific Ocean?

During an El Niño event, the surface waters in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean become significantly warmer than usual. That change is intimately tied to the atmosphere and to the winds blowing over the vast Pacific.

Why is the surface water warmer in the western Pacific than the eastern Pacific?

As surface water propagates westward, it is heated by the atmosphere and the sun, allowing warmer waters to accumulate in the western Pacific. The cooler water in the eastern Pacific cools the air above it, and consequently the air becomes too dense to rise and produce clouds and rain.

What causes Enso?

Although the exact initiating causes of an ENSO warm or cool event are not fully understood, the two components of ENSO – sea surface temperature and atmospheric pressure are strongly related. During an El Niño event, the easterly trade winds converging across the equatorial Pacific weaken.

Which is a possible result of rising ocean temperatures caused by global warming?

The ocean absorbs most of the excess heat from greenhouse gas emissions, leading to rising ocean temperatures. Increasing ocean temperatures affect marine species and ecosystems. Rising temperatures cause coral bleaching and the loss of breeding grounds for marine fishes and mammals.

What temp is the Pacific ocean?

There is a pronounced difference in temperature and salinity between the surface and deep zones of the Pacific. The deep zone, which contains about 80 percent of the ocean’s volume, has relatively stable temperature and salinity patterns; its average temperature is 38.3 °F (3.5 °C).

How does an increase in sea surface temperature affect the water cycle?

Increases in sea surface temperature have led to an increase in the amount of atmospheric water vapor over the oceans. This water vapor feeds weather systems that produce precipitation, increasing the risk of heavy rain and snow (see the Heavy Precipitation and Tropical Cyclone Activity indicators).

What causes ENSO?

Where does warm water accumulate in the Pacific Ocean during El Nino?

This warm water accumulates in the western Pacific. During El Nino conditions, the NE trade winds weaken, and can cease altogether or even change direction. The large mass of warm water, which is normally confined to the western Pacific, now moves eastward across the Pacific basin toward the coast of Peru.

Why is the equatorial western Pacific warmer than the equatorial eastern Pacific?

During El Niño conditions, the usually present east to west winds weaken and an anomalous west to east flow develops. The west to east flow drives warm equatorial waters from the western Pacific towards the eastern Pacific and northern South America.

What is the main cause of the different ocean temperatures during different phases of ENSO?

The changes in sea surface temperatures during El Niño and La Niña are caused and helped along by changes in the trade winds, which normally blow from east to west across the tropical Pacific Ocean.