Question: what happens in the pacific ocean during a la nina event

title: La Niña
text: La Niña is the positive phase of the El Niño Southern Oscillation and is associated with cooler - than - average sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean . However , each country and island nation has a different threshold for what constitutes a La Niña event , which is tailored to their specific interests . For example , the Australian Bureau of Meteorology looks at the trade winds , SOI , weather models and sea surface temperatures in the Niño 3 and 3.4 regions before declaring that a La Niña event has started . However , the Japan Meteorological Agency declares that a La Niña event has started when the average five - month sea surface temperature deviation for the NINO. 3 region is more than 0.5 ° C ( 0.90 ° F ) cooler for 6 consecutive months or longer . 

Answer: answer: La Niña is the positive phase of the El Niño Southern Oscillation and is associated with cooler-than-average sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean for which 3 region is more than 0.5 ° C cooler for 6 consecutive months or longer.