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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?
Explanation
Statement 1 is incorrect because both La Nia and El Nio are phenomena occurring in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, not the Indian Ocean [4]. La Nia is characterized by unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific, while El Nio involves unusually warm temperatures in the same region [3]. Statement 2 is incorrect because La Nia significantly impacts the Indian monsoon. While El Nio is inversely related to the monsoon and often leads to droughts [4], La Nia typically enhances the southwest monsoon, leading to greater than normal rainfall in India and Southeast Asia [6]. Furthermore, La Nia is associated with increased rainfall and catastrophic flooding in northern Australia [6]. Since both statements contain factual inaccuracies regarding the location and climatic effects of these oscillations, neither is correct.
Sources
- [1] Geography of India ,Majid Husain, (McGrawHill 9th ed.) > Chapter 4: Climate of India > The Southern Oscillation > p. 11
- [4] Physical Geography by PMF IAS, Manjunath Thamminidi, PMF IAS (1st ed.) > Chapter 29: El Nino, La Nina & El Nino Modoki > 29.3. Impact of El Nino on Indian Monsoons > p. 415
- [3] Physical Geography by PMF IAS, Manjunath Thamminidi, PMF IAS (1st ed.) > Chapter 29: El Nino, La Nina & El Nino Modoki > 29.4. La Nina > p. 417
- [6] https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/la-nina/
- [2] Physical Geography by PMF IAS, Manjunath Thamminidi, PMF IAS (1st ed.) > Chapter 29: El Nino, La Nina & El Nino Modoki > 29.2. El Nino > p. 413