Changes in Cloud Patterns Resulting from El Nino Activity
Abstract
The El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a climate cycle that impacts weather globally. As
clouds are a key modulator of Earth's energy budget and hydrological cycle, understanding how clouds change with ENSO may give clarification to the effects of ENSO activity. This educational study serves to broaden understanding of cloud patterns associated with El Nino and La Nina events. The study focuses on the Pacific coast and Gulf Coast of the United States, and two regions in the equatorial Pacific. Using the Ocean Nino Index and the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP), total cloud amount as well as high, middle, and low level clouds were temporally correlated with ENSO events and different months (January, April, July, October). The analysis shows that ENSO activity is most apparent in January. Among each cloud type considered, high clouds were most correlated with ENSO activity. In the equatorial Pacific, El Nino shifts clouds eastward, while in the US Gulf region the clouds shift south, moving from land to the Gulf. These results could be used to explain weather behavior resultant from ENSO activity. This analysis may be applied to other climate indices, such as the Madden-Julian oscillation.- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFMED13E0786G
- Keywords:
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- 0810 Post-secondary education;
- EDUCATIONDE: 0850 Geoscience education research;
- EDUCATIONDE: 0855 Diversity;
- EDUCATION