PLEASE HELP WITH ALL QUESTIONS. Having a very hard time, thank you!!! 1. Figure
ID: 117297 • Letter: P
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PLEASE HELP WITH ALL QUESTIONS. Having a very hard time, thank you!!!
1. Figure 2 displays the most recent reporting of TAO surface data at the time of this writing. The upper panel of Figure 1 depicts the five-day mean tropical Pacific sea surface temperatures (SST) and wind conditions ending on 29 October 2017. The SST are represented with isotherms drawn at half-Celsius degree intervals and color shading as indicated by the right-side scale. Wind directions are shown by arrows originating at the buoy sites, while the lengths of the arrows depict the relative wind speeds. The shading and isotherms indicate that the warmest waters along the equator are located near ________ longitude. [Note, in the Pacific, east of 180° longitude (generally the International Dateline) has W(est) numbered longitudes while the Pacific west of 180° has E(ast) numbers measured west and east, respectively, from the Prime Meridian.]
[] 160° E
[] 170° W
[] 130° W
2. Across most of the tropical Pacific, the winds were directed generally ________.
[ ] toward the east
[ ] toward the west
The lower panel of Figure 2 displays Anomalies, that is, departures (differences) from the long-term average. Positive temperature anomaly (warmer than average) isotherms are drawn as thin solid lines and negative anomaly (cooler than average) isotherms are presented as dashed lines. The anomaly interval between lines is one-half degree Celsius. A bold solid line denotes 0-degree departure (i.e., same as the long-term average).
3. Considering the isotherms and the shading scale for temperature anomalies to the right in the lower panel, the magnitudes in the greatest positive SST anomalies were between ________ Celsius degrees.
[ ] 0.0 and +0.5
[ ] +0.5 and +1.0
[ ] +1.0 and +1.5
4. The location of the greatest negative SST anomalies was centered between about ________ longitude.
[ ] 165° E and 180°
[] 170° W and 150° W
[] 105° W and 95° W
5. The broad pattern of current SST anomalies, in general, across the tropical equatorial Pacific region (between 5° north and south latitudes) shows values that were ________.
[ ] negative across all of the tropical Pacific
[ ] positive across all of the tropical Pacific
[ ] negative over most of the eastern Pacific, while positive in western Pacific
[ ] positive over most of the region with a small negative oval in the center
Anomalous winds are departures from the average winds in both speed and/or direction. For example, at 160° W longitude the winds (upper panel) were from the east. The anomalous winds (lower panel) were mostly small, essentially zero, meaning the actual winds were about the same as the long-term average in speed and direction.
6. The anomalous winds along the equator across the tropical Pacific were generally ________ across the tropical Pacific.
[ ] all from the east
[ ] all from the west
[ ] light and of varying direction
For contrast and comparison, we will look at TAO data acquired during historically significant El Nino and La Nina events. In much of 1997 and early 1998, the tropical Pacific Ocean experienced a strong El Nino. Figure 3 is a depiction of the average ocean surface temperatures and atmospheric surface winds in the tropical Pacific for the month of November 1997 as measured by the TAO array, near the peak of the 1997-98 El Nino event.
7. The top view of Figure 3, November 1997 Means, displays the average SST and surface winds for the month of November 1997. The sea surface temperatures across the region ranged from about 26°C as the "coolest", in the southeast corner (100°W), to about
30°C as the "warmest." These highest SST were centered at about ________ longitude in the tropical Pacific.
[ ] 170° W
[ ] 140° W
[ ] 110° W
8. The wind directions in the eastern Pacific were generally from the southeast. In the western Pacific, along the Equator (between about 140° E and 150° W), winds were generally light with some blowing from the west. Compare these observed winds and SST with the depiction of “ideal” El Nino conditions (Figure 4), where surface winds are the horizontal black arrows and the SST are color coded. The observations in Figure 3 and the idealized conditions (Figure 4) ________ generally consistent.
[ ] are
[] arenot
The bottom view of Figure 3, November 1997 Anomalies, is a depiction of SST and wind anomalies, departures of the observed values shown in the top view from the long-term average. Recall that positive temperature anomalies are solid lines in intervals of one-half degree Celsius. A heavy line labeled 0 shows where no temperature anomaly existed (i.e., conditions were average).
9. The SST anomalies in the eastern Pacific were positive, with the greatest values being slightly more than ________ C°. SST anomalies along the equator were also almost all positive. The location, degree, and duration of the warm SST anomalies are what define the El Nino phase.
[ ] +1.5
[ ] +4.5
[ ] +7.5
from TAO/TRITON buoy array for the month of November 1998. Anomalies are departures from normal conditions. [TAO/PMEL/NOAA]
10. Now examine Figure 5. These are the tropical Pacific average SST and wind conditions for November 1998, one year after Figure 3, showing that La Nina conditions had replaced El Nino. For November 1998, the sea-surface temperatures along the Equator in the eastern Pacific were near 22°C, several degrees ________ than those of the same area during the El Nino in November 1997. The winds across the entire Pacific area (Figure 5 Means) were generally blowing from east to west at that time. The warmest waters were found in the extreme western Pacific.
[ ] warmer
[ ] cooler
11. These observed winds and SST in November 1998 ________ generally consistent with the depiction of those of the Figure 4 schematic of a La Nina phase.
[ ] were
[] werenot
12. The lower panel of Figure 5 for November 1998 Anomalies shows the Pacific SST anomalies along the Equator being almost all negative, denoted by the dashed lines, with negative departures dropping below ________ C°. This relatively cool [compared to the long-term average or Neutral ("Normal") Conditions] water is characteristic of La Nina.
[ ] –2
[ ] –3
El Nino and La Nina are commonly determined analytically. The determination is based on three-month averages of SST departures from the long-term average (i.e., anomalies) for a critical region of the equatorial Pacific Ocean (120°W to 170°W, 5 °N to 5°S). Identify this critical region “box” on the Figure 2, lower anomalies map. Positive SST departures of 0.5 Celsius degrees or greater from the long-term mean averaged over the entire area of the box defines El Nino. Neutral conditions exist when the departure averages between 0.5 and +0.5 Celsius degrees. A negative SST departure of 0.5 Celsius degree or greater averaged over the box area defines La Nina. For the following (items #13 and #14), assume that Figure 2 is representative of three-month averages.
13. Examine the SST anomaly field in the critical region box you visualized, and estimate its average anomaly temperature. The average SST anomaly of the box area shows that the late October 2017 tropical Pacific pattern is generally most consistent with ________ conditions.
[] LaNina
[ ] neutral
[] ElNino
An excerpt from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center (CPC) ENSO description of Pacific conditions and forecast is found below:
Society
This ENSO update (or a more recent one) can be derived from this
site: http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/ensodis c.html.
14. The CPC discussion (of 12 OCT 17 above) and SST and wind anomalies of Figure 2 suggest the present existence of ________ conditions. For the past few months, near- normal temperatures have covered most of the equatorial Pacific. The forecast suggests that the current conditions will remain into the winter with the possible approach of a weak La Nina event likely during winter 2017-2018. This expectation comes from a consensus of the ocean-atmosphere indicators and ENSO numerical models.
[] LaNina
[ ] ENSO-neutral
[] ElNino
Introduction Following the intense El Niño episode of 1982-83, with its worldwide weather impacts, an instrumented array of buoys (Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) also termed TAO/TRITON array) was deployed across the tropical Pacific from ten degrees North latitude to ten degrees South latitude. Figure 1 is a map showing the designated buoy locations. This array, along with satellite observations, has allowed real-time monitoring of tropical Pacific Ocean and atmosphere conditions, and provided input for models used to predict future episodes. 30°N 20 N 10°N TAOTRITON Array 10°S 20 s 30°S ATLAS TRITON . Subsurface ADCP 120°E 140E 180 E 180 180° 140° 120° 100° Figure 1. The locations of TAO-Triton instrumented buoys in the tropical Pacific Ocean, [http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/proi over/map array,htmllExplanation / Answer
First let us understand few things. Red means high sea surface temperatures and dark blue means lowest sea surface temperature. All the questions are just based on observations, so explanations are not that required. We just have to locate the place on the map using latitudes and longitudes.
1) 160 E - This place lies in the red zone, so warmest.
2) Towards the west - Because wind flows from area of high pressure to area of low pressure. The west being warmer will have a low pressure system above.
3)+1.0 to +1.5 - depicted by yellow colour
4) 105 W and 95 W - the dark blue region showing greatest negative anomalies are seen between these longitudes.
5) Negetive over the eastern Pacific and positive over the western Pacific. - The transition between light ti dark blue in the east shows negetive anomalies and the light green to yellow colours in the west shows positive anomalies.
6) Light and of varying direction. - shown by small black arrows.
7) 170 W - shown by red region surrounded by isotherm.
8) Are - because the warmest region is at the center of the Pacific. This is an ideal El nino condition.
9) 4.5 degrees - Because the innermost isotherm to the east is at 4.5.
10) Cooler - It is clear from the picture. The lowest temperature during November 1977 was 26 degrees.
11) Were - cooler at the east, warm in the west. Perfect la nina condition.
12) -2. It is written in the innermost isotherm.
13) Neutral. Because temperature to the east were not that low as compared to the la nina situation. And there were no central warm heating, so definitely not El Nino.
14) ENSO neutral.
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