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Essay Archive - El Nino
El Nino
Typically, the level of ocean water around the world is higher in the
western Pacific and lower in the eastern, near the Western coast of South and
North America. This is due primarily to the presence of easterly winds in the
Pacific, which drag the surface water westward and raise the thermocline
relatively all the way up to the surface in the east and dampen it in the west.
During El Nino conditions, however, the easterlies move east, reducing the
continuing interaction between wind and sea, allowing the thermocline to become
nearly flat and to plunge several feet below the sur....
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