PMEL Highlights
El Niño and La Niña phases in the tropical Pacific Ocean are the major drivers of interannual variability in the region. This includes the oxygen (O2) content of upper ocean waters, with El Niño resulting in higher O2 in the eastern tropical Pacific due to a deepening of the thermocline and reduced upwelling of O2-poor deepwater and lower O2 in the west due to a large-scale shallowing of the thermocline; La Niña phases display the opposite pattern. New research led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography—with contributions from the University of Washington CICOES and NOAA's Pacific Marine
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