The Rough Guide to Climate Change: Climate Change and El Nino

摘要

The oceams play a vast role in shaping the vagaries of weather and climate, and much of that influence comes through a set of ocean-atmosphere cycles. Linked to arrangements of high and low pressure centers over various parts of the world, these cycles alternate between two "modes," producing recognizable, repetitive weather patterns-drought, excessive rainfall, unusual warmth or cold, and so forth. These can unfold half a world away from the main center of action, and they're natural parts of climate. It's possible that global warming will tamper with them, but right now, scientists have more questions than answers about whether and how this will happen.