The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) is a coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomenon in the tropical Indian Ocean, analogous to ENSO, characterized by anomalous sea surface temperature differences between the western and eastern Indian Ocean. A positive IOD event (warm western, cool eastern Indian Ocean) can enhance monsoon rainfall over India, and can counteract or offset the typically drought-inducing influence of a concurrent strong El Niño event.
The 1997 El Niño was among the strongest of the 20th century and would typically be expected to substantially suppress the Indian summer monsoon (a...
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