Question

What is southern oscillation

Answer 1

The Southern Oscillation is the atmospheric component of a single large-scale coupled interaction called the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO).

Answer 2

Southern Oscillation, in oceanography and climatology, a coherent interannual fluctuation of atmospheric pressure over the tropical Indo-Pacific region. The Southern Oscillation is the atmospheric component of a single large-scale coupled interaction called the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The phase of the Southern Oscillation at a given point in time may be understood using the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), which compares the difference in atmospheric pressure over Australia and Indonesia with that of the eastern South Pacific.

Equatorial circulation undergoes variations following the irregular periods of roughly three to eight years in response to changes in atmospheric pressure over the tropical Indo-Pacific region. Weakening of the east-to-west windduring a phase of the Southern Oscillation allows warm water in the western margin to slip back to the east by increasing the flow of the Equatorial Counter Current. Surface water temperatures and sea leveldecrease in the west and increase in the east, producing an event called El Niño. The combined ENSO effect has received much attention because it is associated with global-scale climatic variability.