Is there upwelling during El Nino?

Is there upwelling during El Niño?

One oceanic process altered during an El Niño year is upwelling, which is the rising of deeper colder water to shallower depths. In the thermocline, the temperature decreases rapidly from the mixed layer temperature to the much colder deep water temperature.

Where does El Niño cause upwelling?

Due to the warm trade winds, the sea surface is normally about . 5 meter (1.5 feet) higher and 45° F warmer in Indonesia than Ecuador. The westward movement of warmer waters causes cooler waters to rise up towards the surface on the coasts of Ecuador, Peru, and Chile. This process is known as upwelling.

Does El Niño suppressed upwelling?

This allows great masses of warm water to slosh from the western Pacific toward the Americas. It also reduces the upwelling of cooler, nutrient-rich waters from the deep—shutting down or reversing ocean currents along the equator and along the west coast of South and Central America.

How is upwelling a factor in El Niño and La Nina?

During a La Niña the trade winds are unusually strong, leading to increased upwelling and transport of deep, cold water to the surface (Figure 9.6. 3). Monsoon seasons in Asia are drier during El Niños but wetter during La Niña events.

Why do trade winds weaken during El Niño?

The air-sea interaction that occur during an El Niño event feed off of each other. As the pressure falls in the east and rises in the west, the surface pressure gradient is reduced and the trade winds weaken.

How does the El Niño phenomenon affect the hydrosphere?

El Nino affects the hydrosphere because the water gets to be a lot warmer in the East Pacific and a lot colder in the West Pacific. The currents are also affected. La Nina affects the hydrosphere because the water is very cold in the east Pacific and in the middle of the Pacific, too.

How does El Niño affect ocean nutrients?

In turn, this causes deeper, colder waters to rise to the surface. This “upwelling” of deep ocean waters brings with it the nutrients that otherwise would remain near the bottom. During El Niño years, the winds weaken, causing the upwelling of deep water to cease.

How does El Niño affect Earth’s sphere?

During El Niño, changes in wind and ocean current patterns result in warm waters stretching across the whole Pacific Ocean. This extra heating causes changes in wind patterns, which causes atmosphere to react and change all the way from the ground to the edge of space around Earth.”

What is El Niño and why does it matter?

The warm surface water moves eastward and reduces upwelling of cold water off the coast of South America. Climatologists call this El Niño. Its climate impacts show up mostly in the wintertime over North America.

What happens to the ocean during El Nino?

What typically happens is that the trade winds move from S. America to Asia/Australia, and warm surface water is dragged away from the coast and colder, nutrient water rises to shallow depths. Process of upwelling: During El Niño, the trade winds are very weak and upwelling doesn’t happen.

What is the El Niño Southern Oscillation?

Explanation: El Niño is the warm phase of the El Niño Southern Oscillation or ENSO. During El Niño, upwelling of cooler oceanic water decreases along the S. American coast. What typically happens is that the trade winds move from S. America to Asia/Australia, and warm surface water is dragged away from the coast and colder,…

What happens to the euphotic zone during El Niño?

During an El Niño event, the thermocline can dip as far as 152 meters (500 feet). This thick layer of warm water does not allow normal upwelling to occur. Without an upwelling of nutrient-rich cold water, the euphotic zone of the eastern Pacific can no longer support its normally productive coastal ecosystem.