El Niño–Southern Oscillation

High school (ages 12+)
Environment & Earth

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/el-niosouthern-oscillation

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the phenomenon type?Coupled ocean-atmosphere climate pattern
2. What is the geographic origin?Tropical Pacific Ocean basin
3. What is El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO)?ENSO is a big climate pattern that comes from the tropical Pacific Ocean. It changes sea temperatures and air pressure every few years. It can make weather different all over the world.
4. How does El Niño make the ocean warmer?El Niño is the warm phase of ENSO. It happens when the ocean in the eastern Pacific gets hotter and the air pressure over the western Pacific becomes higher. This warm water can spread heat to other parts of the world.

Interannual Variability: Climate variations occurring on time scales of one to several years.
Sea Surface Temperature (SST): The temperature of the uppermost layer of the ocean.
Climate Teleconnections: Statistical links between climate variations in different parts of the world.