Category : Knowledge
This year India may witness a colder winter with increase in snow fall in hilly regions and prevailing cold waves in Northern India due to La Nina. This is the fifth time in six years when La Nina has emerged.
What is La Nina ?
La Nina is a climatic phenomenon that describes cooling of surface ocean water along central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.
El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has three parts viz – Warm (El Nino), Cold (La Nina) & Neutral which occurs in irregular cycles of two to seven years.
In La Nina phase trade winds become warmer than usual and hence push larger quantity of water into Pacific Ocean. This unusually strong, east-ward moving trade winds bring cold water to the surface and this process is called upwelling. This upwelling causes drastic drop in sea surface temperature.
Source – The Indian Express
