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Walker Circulation
The Walker circulation is the result of a surface pressure and temperature difference over the western and eastern tropical Pacific ocean. Under normal Walker circulation, the tropical western Pacific is warm and wet due to prevailing low pressure system. The eastern Pacific lies under a high pressure system for cool and dry conditions An easterly trade wind blows warm water towards the west. Warm water is piled in the upper ocean of the western tropical Pacific near Indonesia and the Australian continent, up to 60 millimeters higher on the western coast.
Figure courtesy of United Nations Environmental Program, GRID-Arendal Maps and Graphics Library; http://www.unep.org/
El Nio and La Nia impact the weather in North and South America, Australia, and Southeast Africa, and can cause flooding, droughts, and increases or decreases in hurricane activity.
El Nio occurs with the combination of relaxed trade winds over equatorial Pacific with an eastward movement of waves, specifically as Kelvin waves.
Global impact
The Walker circulation usually brings areas of low pressure to the western Indian Ocean but, in years when El Nio occurs, this pattern can get shifted eastward, bringing high pressure over India and suppressing the monsoon, especially in spring when the monsoon begins to develop.
India and many other developing countries bordering the Pacific ocean rely on the rainy season and normal strength Walker conditions for a productive agricultural economy and fishing.
Image Courtesy of the Australian Government, Bureau of Meteorology http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/enso/history/ln-2010-12/three-phases-of-ENSO.shtml
References
Collins, Mat, et al. "The impact of global warming on the tropical Pacific Ocean and El Nio." Nature Geoscience 3.6 (2010): 391-397. Kumar, K. Krishna, Balaji Rajagopalan, and Mark A. Cane. "On the weakening relationship between the Indian monsoon and ENSO." Science 284.5423 (1999): 2156-2159. Rasmusson, Eugene M., and John M. Wallace. "Meteorological aspects of the El Nino/southern oscillation." Science 222.4629 (1983): 1195-1202. Saravanan, R., and Ping Chang. "Interaction between tropical Atlantic variability and El Nino-Southern Oscillation." Journal of Climate 13.13 (2000): 2177-2194. Webster, Peter J., and Song Yang. "Monsoon and ENSO: Selectively interactive systems." Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society118.507 (2006): 877-926.