Let’s start with what can be observed. Tahiti lies within the margins of a large zone of high surface pressure that tends to be centered over the Pacific Ocean to the west of Chile.
The extent of upwelling of cold water in tropical latitudes, that account for 36% of the surface of the Earth, conditions global surface temperature. The litmus test for the current state of the atmosphere that is thought to determine the extent of this upwelling, is the difference in atmospheric pressure between Tahiti and Darwin that is encompassed in the Southern Oscillation Index. However, as we see in the diagram above there is a strong inverse relationship between atmospheric pressure in Tahiti and sea surface temperature in the Nino 3.4 region. As pressure increases, temperature falls. The third element shows that pressure swings more widely in January than in September. However, pressure in September exceeds that in…
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