Which mechanism causes increased surface water temperatures during El Niño events in the Pacific Ocean?

💡 Explanation

When trade winds weaken, surface waters driven westward by these winds slow and can even reverse because the pressure gradient weakens, reducing upwelling of colder water and resulting in warmer surface temperatures. Therefore a weakening of trade winds results, rather than increased upwelling, thermocline depth increase, or a stronger Humboldt current which all oppose warming.

• Which risk increases when a warming climate thaws discontinuous permafrost beneath taiga forest?
• Which mechanism causes increased stream erosion downstream of a dam following heavy precipitation?
• Which downslope movement results when permafrost thaws and the active layer loses shear strength?
• Which surface deformation commonly results from seasonal solifluction in subarctic tundra caused by melting permafrost?
• Which process drives the circulation of nutrients in deep ocean layers?
• Which geologic outcome primarily occurs along a transform plate boundary?