La Niña
Definition
La Niña is a climate pattern that describes cooler than normal ocean surface temperatures in the Eastern and Central Pacific Ocean, regions close to the equator off the west coast of South America.
Analogy
Think of La Niña as your refrigerator's cooling system. When it's working overtime, it cools down everything inside (like how La Niña cools down sea surface temperatures), which can affect what happens outside of your fridge (like how La Niña affects global weather patterns).
Related terms
El Niño: The warm phase of a recurring climate pattern across the tropical Pacific—the El-Niño-Southern Oscillation, or “ENSO cycle.”
Climate Change: A long-term change in average weather patterns globally or regionally.
Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO): A long-term ocean fluctuation of the Pacific Ocean that waxes and wanes approximately every 20 to 30 years.
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