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1 - ESS 111 || Ocean Currents & El Nino
1 - ESS 111 || Ocean Currents & El Nino
30
Environmental Studies
Undergraduate 1
11/06/2018

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Cards

Term
What is an accumulation of weather events in a specific area for a significant period of time?
Definition
Climate
Term
What are currents in the upper 1000 m, driven by wind that results from temperature contrast?
Definition
Surface
Term
What are currents driven by density, in which more dense water sinks and where they circulate for 500 to 2000 years?
Definition
Dense
Term
What are currents driven by winds that flow away from the equator toward the poles?
Definition
Warm
Term
What are currents driven by winds that flow away from the poles toward the equator?
Definition
Cold
Term
What are currents that flow in the opposite direction of wind currents and fill in the gaps?
Definition
Counter
Term
These are the components of what:

Mean ascent, low surface pressure over warmest areas with deep convection T-Storms.

Subsidence, high surface pressure, in non convective areas with clear skies.

Equatorial trade winds go from high to low pressure.
Definition
The Walker Circulation
Term
What are warm poleward moving currents ?
Definition
Western Ocean Basins
Term
What are cold cold currents, directed equatorward?
Definition
Eastern Ocean Basins
Term
What piles water westward and create the Equatorial Countercurrent?
Definition
North/ South Equatorial Currents
Term
These are the three effects of what?:

E-W tilt of thermocline & upwelling of cold water are reduced.

SST rises in central/eastern equatorial Pacific

Changes Walker Circulation
Definition
El Nino
Term
What is an oceanographic phenomenon that involves wind-driven motion of dense, cooler, and usually nutrient-rich water towards the ocean surface, replacing the warmer, usually nutrient-depleted surface water?
Definition
Ocean Upwelling
Term
What is the transition layer between the mixed layer at the surface and the deep water layer?
Definition
Thermocline
Term
What defines ocean layers?
Definition
Temperature
Term
What ocean layer is near the surface where the temperature is roughly that of surface water?
Definition
Mixed Layer
Term
Which two ocean layers are relatively uniform in temperature?
Definition
Mixed and Deep
Term
Under what circumstances due to the following situations occur:

Cooler, nutrient rich water moves upward from below along the South American coast.
Definition
Thermocline and wind patterns during the normal Walker Circulation.
Term
Under what circumstances due to the following situations occur:

Cooler, nutrient rich water does not “upwell” to the ocean surface.

Warm surface water piles up along the South American Coast.
Definition
Thermocline and wind patterns during the normal El Nino – Southern Oscillation (ENSO) conditions.
Term
What is the effect of La Nina?
Definition
It is an enhancement of the normal Walker Circulation that causes monsoons.
Term
El Nino and Southern Oscillation = what?
Definition
ENSO
Term
What is the atmospheric component of El Nino?

What is the oscillation in surface air pressure between the tropical eastern and the western Pacific Ocean waters?
Definition
Southern Oscillation
Term
What causes El Nino conditions?
Definition
Weakening of the trade winds
Term
What causes La Nina Conditions?
Definition
Enhancement of the trade winds
Term
Which has lower pressure over Tahiti and high pressure in Darwin?

El Nino or La Nina
Definition
El Nino
Term
Which has higher pressure over Tahiti and lower pressure in Darwin?

El Nino or La Nina
Definition
La Nina
Term
How Often Do El Ninos occur?
Definition
Every 3 to 7 years around Christmas.
Term
Everytime you have a big El Nino what happens?
Definition
The warm and cold ranges increase.
Term
The longer the arrow on an El Nino diagram the stronger the what?
Definition
Trade Winds
Term
Why are there fewer hurricanes in the Atlantic Basin during El Nino?
Definition
Stronger vertical wind shear and greater atmospheric stability.
Term
Why are there more hurricanes in the Atlantic Basin during La Nina?
Definition
Weaker vertical wind shear and less atmospheric stability.
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