Walker circulation
Pacific pressure oscillation
Walker circulation is a large-scale atmospheric pattern over the tropical Pacific Ocean, driven by differences in sea surface temperature and pressure between the western and eastern Pacific.
Air rises over the warm western Pacific, flows eastward at high altitude, descends over the cooler eastern Pacific, and returns westward along the surface.
Disruptions to this circulation are associated with El Niño and La Niña events.
Named for British meteorologist Gilbert Walker.
- trade windsReliable equatorial air currents
- thermoclineRapid temperature-change layer
- subsidenceGradual ground sinking
- upwellingDeep water rising surfaceward
- convectionHeat transfer via motion
Peru · Indonesia · evaporation · ocean currents · climate models · zonal · precipitation · jet streams · easterlies · Coriolis effect · equatorial · satellite imagery · tropical cyclones · rainfall · heatwaves · tropical · drought · La Niña
- TeleconnectionsEl Nino, La Nina, PNA
- marine weathermarine weather, storm warning, gale warning, shipping forecast, small craft advisory
- ocean heatsea temperature, ocean warming, SST, warm water, cold water