What is ENSO ecology?
The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a recurring climate pattern involving changes in the temperature of waters in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. El Niño and La Niña are the extreme phases of the ENSO cycle; between these two phases is a third phase called ENSO-neutral.
What does ENSO mean in science?
the Southern Oscillation
El Niño and the Southern Oscillation, also known as ENSO is a periodic fluctuation in sea surface temperature (El Niño) and the air pressure of the overlying atmosphere (Southern Oscillation) across the equatorial Pacific Ocean.
How does El Niño affect ecosystems?
Ecosystems and human communities can be positively or negatively affected. For example, in the Southern United States, during the fall through spring, El Niño usually causes increased rainfall and sometimes destructive flooding.
What are ENSO cycles?
These episodes alternate in an irregular inter-annual cycle called the ENSO cycle. ‘ENSO’ stands for ‘El Niño Southern Oscillation’, where ‘Southern Oscillation’ is the term for atmospheric pressure changes between the east and west tropical Pacific that accompany both El Niño and La Niña episodes in the ocean.
What is ENSO variability?
El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) encompasses variability in both the eastern and western tropical Pacific. ENSO variability is most pronounced along the equator and the coast of Ecuador and Peru. However, the eastern tropical Pacific also includes a warm pool north of the equator where important variability occurs.
How is ENSO measured?
The southern oscillation index (SOI), which measures the atmospheric component of ENSO, is calculated from the difference between the standardised surface air pressures at Tahiti and Darwin, Australia, and represents the strength of the tropical trade winds. This difference is represented by a positive or negative SOI.
What are ENSO episodes?
What is ENSO class ninth?
Explanation: “ENSO” refers to the El Niño/Southern Oscillation, the interaction between the atmosphere and ocean in the tropical Pacific that results in a somewhat periodic variation between between below-normal and above-normal sea surface temperatures and dry and wet conditions over the course of a few years.
What do you mean by ecosystem?
Definition of ecosystem. : the complex of a community of organisms and its environment functioning as an ecological unit.
What does ecosystem mean in the encyclopedic entry?
Encyclopedic Entry. Vocabulary. An ecosystem is a geographic area where plant s, animal s, and other organism s, as well as weather and landscape, work together to form a bubble of life. Ecosystems contain biotic or living, parts, as well as abiotic factors, or nonliving parts. Biotic factor s include plants, animals, and other organisms.
What is the flow of energy in an ecosystem?
Energy flow is unidirectional, or one-way. This one-way flow of energy through ecosystems means that every ecosystem needs a constant supply of energy, usually from the sun, in order to function. Energy can be passed between organisms, but it cannot be recycled because some of it is lost as heat in each transfer.
What is the meaning of ecological unit?
: the complex of a community of organisms and its environment functioning as an ecological unit.