La Nina Looms, Scientists Say

[n2doc]

By LiveScience Staff
posted: 24 June 2010 09:22 am ET


This satellite image of Pacific Ocean sea surface heights taken by the NASA/European Ocean Surface Topography Mission/Jason-2 oceanography satellite, captured on June 11, 2010, shows that the tropical Pacific has switched from warm (red) to cold (blue) during the last few months, perhaps foreshadowing a transition from El Niño, to La Niña conditions. Credit: NASA/JPL image from the Ocean Surface Topography Team.


El Niño is ending and it's colder cousin La Niña is set to start, NASA observations indicate.

A La Niña is essentially the opposite of an El Niño. During a La Niña, trade winds in the western equatorial Pacific are stronger than normal, and the cold water that normally exists along the coast of South America extends to the central equatorial Pacific.

La Niñas change global weather patterns and are associated with less moisture in the air, resulting in less rain along the coasts of North and South America. They also tend to increase the formation of tropical storms in the Atlantic.

"For the American Southwest, La Niñas usually bring a dry winter, not good news for a region that has experienced normal rain and snowpack only once in the past five winters," said Bill Patzert, an oceanographer and climatologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

more

http://www.livescience.com/environment/el-nino-ending-la-nina-beginning-100624.html

[txlibdem]

1. Chris Farley says

La Nina is Spanish for... The Nina.

[Owlet]

2. Oh..I get it..

..so 'La Pinta" means 'the Pinta' and 'La Santa Maria' means 'the Santa Maria'! Finally those fifth grade history lessons are starting to make sense

[Dogmudgeon]

5. Not quite, *mi amigo*

"El Niño" means "The Boy", and The Boy is the Christ child. Since an El Niño typically becomes organized in late December, it was named after Jesus in honor of his official birthday (December 25).

"La Niña" is "The Girl". No deity is implied; it's simply the meteorological mirror-image of El Niño.

Hasta Lumbago,

--¡d!

[Dead_Parrot]

6. I prefer txl & Owlet's version

It's easier to remember. :D

[damntexdem]

3. And at the same time that El Petroleo is looming in the Gulf of Mexico.

And increased tropical-storm formation in the Atlantic bodes particularly ill while the Gulf is full of oil.

[guardian]

4. don't worry

I ate a hamburger this week, so the increased carbon footprint will counter any impact of La Nina. The world is safe.