El Niño Fact Sheets for Hawai‘i and Pacific Island Countries

Posted on August 22, 2018 in American Samoa, Coastal Infrastructure, Communities & Cultures, Fact Sheets, Federated States of Micronesia, Freshwater & Drought, Guam, Hawaii, Marshall Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Publications

Summary

Individual El Niño events can vary in strength, duration, and impacts. This makes constant monitoring and awareness extremely important for decision makers across many sectors. Impacts also vary by location. These seven fact sheets outline the impacts of El Niño on different sectors in Hawaii, American Sāmoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, the eastern and western Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of Palau, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a recurring climate pattern involving changes in the temperature of waters in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean and the patterns of sea level pressure, lower- and upper-level winds, and tropical rainfall across the Pacific basin. This irregular oscillation between warm and cool patterns, referred to as the ENSO cycle, directly affects rainfall distribution in the tropics and can have a strong influence on weather across the Pacific basin.

With direction provided by the NOAA Pacific Islands Regional Team, a NOAA-led Pacific Islands El Niño Tiger Team, including the Pacific ENSO Applications Climate Center and the University of Hawaii, developed seven country-specific El Niño fact sheets to distribute to region-wide Pacific Islands communities. They are available here for download. For more information, please contact the Pacific Region Climate Officer of the Pacific ENSO Applications Climate Center (peac@noaa.gov).