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Geolens

Glossary

417 words used in the labs.

Find a term from the labs, understand the process behind it, and see how it appears in the landscape. Each entry connects an explanation with a real observation and a model you can explore.

Term

Walker cell

A simplified east–west tropical Pacific circulation, with rising air over warmer water and sinking air over cooler water. Its near-surface branch is linked to the trade winds. Changes in this circulation are part of ENSO.

What to look for

Sentinel-6 mapped sea-surface height anomalies during La Niña in January 2025. Ocean–atmosphere coupling changes the Walker circulation and can influence distant weather through teleconnections; these atmospheric links are not directly pictured.

Related labs

ENSO and the Walker cell →
Sentinel-6 sea-surface height anomaly map shows lower-than-average levels across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific.
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Explore further with USGS water glossary · USGS volcano glossary · NPS glacial geology · NASA Earth facts. Photograph acknowledgements are collected on the Image credits page.