La Niña
La Niña is a weather phase that cools the central and eastern Pacific Ocean. La Niña produces colder and wetter conditions in the North, while the South receives warmer and dryer conditions.
Occurrence
Predicting La Niña
Scientists still have trouble predicting La Niña, they believe it occurs every three to five winters. [1] La Niña usually comes after El Niño but not always. La Niña and El Niño have different magnitudes and length of time. The patterns we've collected based on these differences, allows us to predict when El Niño and La Niña are going to occur.
Effects
Weather
La Niña is the cause for colder ocean temperatures because of the rain clouds it creates. In the United States, La Niña decreases the precipitation in southern, central, and south western areas. However, in the northern states and southeastern states, the precipitation increases. Also, La Niña effects the northern hemisphere during the summer because it rains more than average. [2] More rainfall occurs during the winter of the northern hemisphere as well. The tropical areas of South America are dryer than average during the winter season.
Ocean
La Niña is the direct cause for colder ocean temperatures because of rain clouds it creates. In the eastern Pacific, the colder air sinking over the already cold ocean. [3] El Niño Southern Oscillation causes the western part of the Pacific Ocean to become warmer. When this occurs, the ocean warms the air above it and creates rain clouds. [4] La Niña wind pushes warm water along the equator, leaving the west with only cold water.
Potential risk
Natural Disasters
La Niña effects the pressure of our atmosphere, the amount of rainfall, and the temperature of our air. La Niña keeps hot air over southern/central part of the U.S. This increases the risk for natural disasters; like tornadoes or hailstorms.
See also
Other closely related articles in this wiki include:
References
- ↑ [Galbraith, B. K. (2011, August 26). Assessing climate change in a drought-stricken state. The New York Times, Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/26/us/26ttdrought.html?_r=0,
- ↑ [Graham, S. (1999, April 27). Features. Retrieved from http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/LaNina/la_nina_2.php,
- ↑ [Becker, E. (2016, September 8). September 2016 ENSO update: Cooling our heels | NOAA climate.gov. Retrieved from https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/enso/september-2016-enso-update-cooling-our-heels],
- ↑ [K. L. Lerner & B. W. Lerner (Eds.), (2008) El Niño and La Niña. The Gale Encyclopedia of Science (4th ed., Vol. 2, pp. 1457-1459). Detroit: Gale. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GVRL&sw=w&u=psucic&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CCX2830100798&asid=a16980f33b346efb04a565d264fd716c]],
External links
Relevant online sources to this wiki article include: