El Niño and La Niña are opposite phases of what is known as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle. The ENSO cycle describes the fluctuations in temperature between the ocean and atmosphere in the east-central Equatorial Pacific.
La Niña is sometimes referred to as the cold phase of ENSO and El Niño as the warm phase of ENSO. Both La Niña and El Niño can have large-scale impacts not only on ocean processes, but also on global weather and climate.
Data from NASA's GRACE satellites show that the land ice sheets in both Antarctica and Greenland are losing mass.
Sea level rise is caused primarily by two factors related to global warming: the added water from melting land ice and the expansion of sea water as it warms.
Rate of Change by the End of 2016
Temperature Trend:
+1.7°F
Sea Level Trend:
+3.4mm/yr
Greenland Trend:
-281 Gt/yr
Antarctica Trend:
-118 Gt/yr