<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt">http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120119152001.htm<br><br><h1>NASA Sees Repeating La Niña Hitting Its Peak</h1>
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<div id="caption" style="padding: 5px 0 10px 0"><em>The latest
image of sea surface heights in the Pacific Ocean from NASA's Jason-2
satellite shows that the current La Niña is peaking in intensity.
Yellows and reds indicate areas where sea surface height is higher than
normal (due to warm water), while blues and purples depict areas where
sea surface height is lower than normal (due to cool water). Green
indicates near-normal conditions. (Credit: NASA/JPL Ocean Surface
Topography Team)</em></div>
</div>
<div id="first"><span class="date">ScienceDaily (Jan. 19, 2012)</span>
— La Niña, "the diva of drought," is peaking, increasing the odds that
the Pacific Northwest will have more stormy weather this winter and
spring, while the southwestern and southern United States will be dry.</div>
<div>Sea surface height data from NASA's Jason-1 and -2 satellites show
that the milder repeat of last year's strong La Niña has recently
intensified, as seen in the latest Jason-2 image of the Pacific Ocean.</div>
<div>The image is based on the average of 10 days of data centered on Jan.
8, 2012. It depicts places where the Pacific sea surface height is
higher than normal (due to warm water) as yellow and red, while places
where the sea surface is lower than normal (due to cool water) are shown
in blues and purples. Green indicates near-normal conditions. The
height of the sea surface over a given area is an indicator of ocean
temperature and other factors that influence climate.</div>
<div>This is the second consecutive year that the Jason altimetric
satellites have measured lower-than-normal sea surface heights in the
equatorial Pacific and unusually high sea surface heights in the western
Pacific.</div>
<div>"Conditions are ripe for a stormy, wet winter in the Pacific
Northwest and a dry, relatively rainless winter in Southern California,
the Southwest and the southern tier of the United States," says
climatologist Bill Patzert of JPL. "After more than a decade of mostly
dry years on the Colorado River watershed and in the American Southwest,
and only two normal rain years in the past six years in Southern
California, low water supplies are lurking. This La Niña could deepen
the drought in the already parched Southwest and could also worsen
conditions that have fueled recent deadly wildfires."</div>
<div>NASA will continue to monitor this latest La Niña to see whether it
has reached its expected winter peak or continues to strengthen.</div>
<div>A repeat of La Niña ocean conditions from one year to the next is not
uncommon: repeating La Niñas occurred most recently in 1973-74-75,
1998-99-2000 and in 2007-08-09. Repeating La Niñas most often follow an
El Niño episode and are essentially the opposite of El Niño conditions.
During a La Niña episode, trade winds are stronger than normal, and the
cold water that normally exists along the coast of South America extends
to the central equatorial Pacific.</div>
<div>La Niña episodes change global weather patterns and are associated
with less moisture in the air over cooler ocean waters. This results in
less rain along the coasts of North and South America and along the
equator, and more rain in the far Western Pacific.</div>
<div>The comings and goings of El Niño and La Niña are part of a
long-term, evolving state of global climate, for which measurements of
sea surface height are a key indicator. Jason-1 is a joint effort
between NASA and the French Space Agency, Centre National d'Études
Spatiales (CNES). Jason-2 is a joint effort between NASA, the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, CNES and the European
Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites
(EUMETSAT). JPL manages the U.S. portion of both missions for NASA's
Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C.</div>
<div>For more on how La Niña and other climate phenomena are affecting weather in the United States this year, see: <a target="_blank" title="http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/17jan_missingsnow/" href="http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/17jan_missingsnow/">http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/17jan_missingsnow/</a> .</div>
<div>For more information on NASA's ocean surface topography missions, visit: <a target="_blank" title="http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov" href="http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/">http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov</a> .</div><br></div></body></html>