Which phenomenon causes thermocline deepening in the eastern Pacific Ocean during El Niño events?

💡 Explanation

When trade winds weaken during El Niño events, reduced westward surface water transport decreases upwelling and allows warm water to pile up in the eastern Pacific, thus deepening the thermocline because the boundary between warm and cold water descends. Thermocline deepening results, rather than increased upwelling, deep water formation, or current intensification, which are associated with other oceanographic conditions.

• Which climatic effect results when thermohaline circulation weakens due to increased freshwater input in North Atlantic?
• Which phenomenon significantly reduces a river's sediment-carrying capacity when it enters a lake or ocean?
• Which outcome occurs when subsurface pressure exceeds frictional strength along a fault?
• Which atmospheric effect amplifies surface temperature increase strongest with decreasing albedo?
• Which phenomenon's intensity influences the latitudinal extent of the Hadley cell circulation pattern?
• Which volcanic outcome increases when basalt viscosity rises?