We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2013
A swinging theory
DGDGA∧D, California Dreamin', Chris Proctor
About once every four years, the sea-surface temperature in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific is a few degrees higher than normal (Philander, 1990). Near the South American coast, this warming of the ocean water is usually at its maximum around Christmas. Long ago, Peruvian fishermen called it El Niño, the Spanish phrase for the Christ Child.
Phenomena
During the past several decades, El Niño has been observed in unprecedented detail thanks to the implementation of the TAO/TRITON array and the launch of satellite-borne instruments (McPhaden et al., 1998). The relevant quantities to characterise the state in the equatorial ocean and atmosphere are sea level pressure, sea-surface temperature (SST), sea level height, surface wind and ocean subsurface temperature.
The annual mean state of the equatorial Pacific sea-surface temperature is characterised by the zonal contrast between the western Pacific “warm pool” and the “cold tongue” in the eastern Pacific. The mean temperature in the eastern Pacific is approximately 23°C, with seasonal excursions of about 3°C. What makes El Niño unique among other interesting phenomena of natural climate variability is that it has both a well-defined spatial pattern and a relatively well-defined time scale. The pattern of the sea-surface temperature anomaly for December 1997 is plotted in Fig. 8.1 and shows a large area where the SST is larger than average.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
