Indecisive El Niño Exhibits 'Split Personality'

The central equatorial Pacific Ocean warmed by about one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) between June and August 2004, which can indicate development of a weak to moderate El Niño. Yet in other locations, important signals have been absent, suggesting the climate pattern may be of two minds. NASA satellites show warm water anomalies concentrated in the central Pacific Ocean in August. By September, the anomalies are weaker.
The SeaWinds instrument on NASA's Quick Scatterometer (QuikScat) satellite has shown stronger than normal trade winds for this time of year on the eastern side of the Pacific basin. Since the 1997 to 1998 El Niño, these trade winds have exhibited a kind of 'split personality' condition during times when the central equatorial Pacific warmed.