La Nina is suspected to have caused recent floods in Australia. How is La Nina different from EI Nino? 1. La Nia is characterised by unusually cold ocean temperature in equatorial Indian Ocean whereas EI Nino is characterised by unusually warm ocean tempe

examrobotsa's picture

Submitted by examrobotsa on

Q: 52 (IAS/2011)
La Nina is suspected to have caused recent floods in Australia. How is La Nina different from EI Nino?
1. La Nia is characterised by unusually cold ocean temperature in equatorial Indian Ocean whereas EI Nino is characterised by unusually warm ocean temperature in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.
2. El Nino has adverse effect on southwest monsoon of India, but La Nina has no effect on monsoon climate.
Which of the statements given above is/ correct?

question_subject: 

Geography

question_exam: 

IAS

stats: 

0,97,175,82,32,61,97

keywords: 

{'el nino': [2, 0, 1, 4], 'la nina': [0, 0, 1, 1], 'monsoon climate': [0, 0, 1, 0], 'ei nino': [0, 0, 0, 1], 'southwest monsoon': [2, 0, 0, 0], 'equatorial indian ocean': [0, 0, 0, 1], 'equatorial pacific ocean': [0, 0, 0, 1], 'warm ocean temperature': [0, 0, 0, 1], 'recent floods': [0, 0, 0, 1], 'cold ocean temperature': [0, 0, 0, 1]}

The given statements about La Nina and El Nino are not entirely correct. Therefore, the correct answer is "Neither 1 nor 2".

El Nino and La Nina are two opposite phases of a climate cycle called El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). El Nino is characterized by unusually warm ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, while La Nina is characterized by unusually cold ocean temperatures in the same region.

El Nino has an adverse effect on the southwest monsoon of India, as it weakens the monsoon winds and causes drought-like conditions over the Indian subcontinent. On the other hand, La Nina can enhance the monsoon rainfall over India, but it is not entirely predictable.