An El Niño occurs when sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south and is bounded by Asia and Australia in the west and the Americas in the east.Pacific Ocean
Equator
An equator is the intersection of the surface of a rotating sphere with the plane that is perpendicular to the sphere's axis of rotation and midway between its poles. The equator usually refers to the Earth's equator: an imaginary line on the Earth's surface equidistant from the North Pole and Sout…
What is El Nino and how is it caused?
El Niño means Little Boy, or Christ Child in Spanish. South American fishermen first noticed periods of unusually warm water in the Pacific Ocean in the 1600s. The full name they used was El Niño de Navidad, because El Niño typically peaks around December. El Niño can affect our weather significantly. The warmer waters cause the Pacific jet stream to move south of its neutral position.
What unusual event occurs during El Nino?
Some normally arid tropical habitats are transformed into virtual gardens during El Niño. Abundant and reliable rains in other tropical areas become sparse and intermittent during El Niño. Extreme climates have also been experienced in the higher latitudes during ENSO, though these are by no means unique to ENSO.
What are the positive effects of El Nino?
Positive effects of El Nino: The El Nino event brings few assets. Warmer climate. Many parts of North America have a favorable impact of El Nino. Southern Canada and northern continental United States encounter milder winters. It brings relief to the people in the region, which faces extreme winters. Also, drier weather in these areas means low ...
Which is the initial effect of an El Nino?
What are the effects of El Niño? Primary effects: these are directly caused. Insect population explosion leading to disease and plagues. Fewer hurricanes and other tropical cyclones in the north Atlantic Milder winters in southern Canada and the northern continental United States.
How is El Nino formed?
El Niño occurs when warm water builds up along the equator in the eastern Pacific. The warm ocean surface warms the atmosphere, which allows moisture-rich air to rise and develop into rainstorms. The clearest example of El Niño in this series of images is 1997.
What happens during El Nino and where does it occur?
El Niño is a weather pattern that occurs in the Pacific Ocean. During this time, unusual winds cause warm surface water from the equator to move east, toward Central and South America. El Niño can cause more rain than usual in South and Central America and in the United States.
What is El Niño in simple terms?
El Niño is a climate pattern that describes the unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. El Nino is the “warm phase” of a larger phenomenon called the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO).
Why does El Niño cause drought?
Strong El Niño Wanders: “The stronger the El Niño signal, the less water is available in the region. This is first manifest in the form of less rain, soon followed by lower discharges in the rivers. These lower discharges also have a direct influence on water storage levels in the reservoirs.
When did El Niño occur?
Since 2000, El Niño events have been observed in 2002–03, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2009–10, 2014–16, and 2018–19. Major ENSO events were recorded in the years 1790–93, 1828, 1876–78, 1891, 1925–26, 1972–73, 1982–83, 1997–98, and 2014–16.
Where does it happen La Niña?
The weather pattern known as La Nina brings warmer-than-normal sea-surface temperatures (in red) to the southern Pacific Ocean around northern Australia, New Guinea, and the islands of Indonesia. The cooler sea-surface temperatures of La Nina (in blue) occur in the southern Pacific off the coast of South America.
Which locations are more greatly affected by El Niño?
Although El Niño has the most direct impacts on life in the equatorial Pacific, its effects propagate north and south along the coast of the Americas, affecting marine life all around the Pacific.
What are 3 effects of El Niño?
Severe drought and associated food insecurity, flooding, rains, and temperature rises due to El Niño are causing a wide range of health problems, including disease outbreaks, malnutrition, heat stress and respiratory diseases.
What is the ENSO blog?
NOAA’s ENSO Blog features article from experts monitoring and forecasting El Niño, La Niña, and their impacts--particularly the strong event of 2015.
What happens to the atmosphere in the Pacific Ocean?
As the trade winds weaken and the warm tropical Pacific Ocean water sloshes to the east, increased heat and moisture rises into the atmosphere in the central and eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean, altering weather patterns in neighboring regions and around the globe.
Where does the wind push the water?
Normally, strong winds along the equator push the warm surface water near South America westward toward Indonesia. When this happens, the cooler water underneath rises up toward the surface of the ocean near South America. However, in the fall and winter of some years, these winds are much weaker than usual.
Where does the warm water move?
So the warm surface water along the equator piles up along the coast of South America and then moves north towards California and south toward Chile. Many fish that live in the normally cooler waters off the coast of South America move away or die.
What is the weather like in the Pacific Ocean?
Weather depends a lot on ocean temperatures. Where the ocean is warm, more clouds form, and more rain falls in that part of the world. In the Pacific Ocean, near the equator, the Sun makes the water especially warm on the surface. Normally, strong winds along the equator push the warm surface water near South America westward toward Indonesia.
Where does the wind push the water?
Normally, strong winds along the equator push the warm surface water near South America westward toward Indonesia. When this happens, the cooler water underneath rises up toward the surface of the ocean near South America. However, in the fall and winter of some years, these winds are much weaker than usual.
What is the weather like in the Pacific Ocean?
Weather depends a lot on ocean temperatures. Where the ocean is warm, more clouds form, and more rain falls in that part of the world. In the Pacific Ocean, near the equator, the Sun makes the water especially warm on the surface. Normally, strong winds along the equator push the warm surface water near South America westward toward Indonesia.
How does ENSO affect humans?
How ENSO impacts humans. El Niño, La Niña, and the neutral condition all produce important consequences for people and ecosystems across the globe. The interactions between the ocean and atmosphere alters weather around the world and can result in severe storms or mild weather, drought or flooding. Beyond “just” influencing ...
What are some of ENSO's impacts?
Ecosystems and human communities can be positively or negatively affected. For example, in the Southern United States, during the fall through spring, El Niño usually causes increased rainfall and sometimes destructive flooding. La Niña, however, usually causes drier weather in the South, but the Northwest tends to be colder and wetter than average. Even though El Niño occurs in the Pacific Ocean, it often reduces the number of hurricanes that form in the Atlantic Ocean. Conversely, La Niña events tend to be related to an increase in the number of Atlantic hurricanes.
How does ENSO help students?
ENSO provides teachers with the opportunity to have students discover ways that the oceanic and atmospheric systems interact and how those interactions can impact ecosystems and human society. The resources in this collection can be used to help learn about the basics of ENSO, the inter-relationship of Earth systems, the consequences of these interactions, and how to use and analyze data. These resources can be used to teach students how scientists study the complexity of the Earth’s systems and why better El Niño/La Niña forecasts can benefit agriculture, natural resource managers and human communities.
How does ENSO affect agriculture?
Agriculture is of course very dependent on climate and weather, as a result ENSO’s influence on rainfall and temperature have important consequences for food production and availability.
What is the name of the Atlantic nio?
His name is Atlantic Niño, and he has an uncanny resemblance to his big brother: Like El Niño, Atlantic Niño is characterized by warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures in the eastern equatorial basin and weaker-than-average trade winds throughout the east-central equatorial Atlantic.
What caused the monsoon rains to fall over the central Pacific instead of on the western edge?
Abnormal wind patterns also caused the monsoon rains to fall over the central Pacific instead of on the western edge, which led to droughts and disastrous forest fires in Indonesia and Australia. Overall, the loss to the global economy as a result of the El Niño amounted to more than $8 billion.
What was the weather like in 1997-1998?
Likewise, the winter of 1997-1998 was marked by a record-breaking El Niño event. The result was unusual weather in parts of the world, including the U.S. Severe weather events included flooding in the southeastern United States, major storms in the Northeast, and flooding in California. La Niña.
How does El Nino affect the world?
El Nino Effects. El Nino results in the rise of sea surface temperatures. It also weakens the trade winds of the affected region. In India, Australia, it can bring about drought conditions. This affects the crop productivity largely.
What is El Nino?
El Nino can be understood as a natural phenomenon wherein the ocean temperatures rise especially in parts of the Pacific ocean. It is the nomenclature which is referred to for a periodic development along the coast of Peru. This development is a temporary replacement of the cold current along the coast of Peru. El Nino is a Spanish word.
How did El Nino get its name?
El Niño is Spanish for “the boy child” and is named after the baby Jesus.
What is the opposite of El Nino?
Another natural phenomenon, similar to El Nino is La Nina, which is also in news these days. The term La Nina literally means ‘ little girl’. It is termed as opposite to the phenomenon of El Nino as it results in the ‘cooling’ of the ocean water in parts of the Pacific ocean.
How strong is El Nino?
The intensity of El Nino events varies from weak temperature increases (about 4-5° F) with only moderate local effects on weather and climate to very strong increases (14-18° F) associated with worldwide climatic changes.
What do scientists collect about El Nino?
Scientists, governments, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) collect data about El Nino using a number of technologies such as scientific buoys.
Where do moisture-laden winds move?
Hence, moisture-laden winds move from near the western Pacific to the Indian Ocean. The pressure on the landmass of India is lower than on the Indian Ocean, and so, the moisture-laden winds move further from the ocean to the lands.
What causes an El Niño?
In normal, non-El Niño conditions, trade winds blow in a westerly direction along the equator. These winds pile up warm surface water in the western Pacific, so the sea surface is as much as 18 inches higher in the western Pacific than in the eastern Pacific. These trade winds are one of the main sources of fuel for the Humboldt Current. The Humboldt Current is a cold ocean current which flows north along the coasts of Chile and Peru, then turns west and warms as it moves out into the Central Pacific. So, the normal situation is warmer water in the western Pacific, cooler in the eastern.
What is El Niño?
El Niño is a naturally occurring event in the equatorial region which causes temporary changes in the world climate. Originally, El Niño was the name used for warmer than normal sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America. Now, El Niño has come to refer to a whole complex of Pacific Ocean sea-surface temperature changes and global weather events. The ocean warming off South America is just one of these events.
What is ENSO?
ENSO is the "El Niño-Southern Oscillation," the name scientists use for what is often called El Niño. The Southern Oscillation is a see-saw shift in surface air pressure between the eastern and western halves of the Pacific. When pressure rises in the east, it falls in the west and vice versa. In the 1950's scientists realized that El Niño and the Southern Oscillation were parts of the same event.
How often does El Niño occur and how long does it last?
El Niños occur irregularly approximately every two to seven years. Warm water generally appears off the coast of South America close to Christmas, and reaches its peak warmth in the eastern Pacific during the late fall of the following year. After peaking, the waters will tend to cool slowly through the winter and spring of the next year. Effects can be felt continually around the globe for more than a year, though this is generally not the case in any one place.
What effects does El Niño have on world climate?
A strong El Niño is often associated with flooding rains and warm weather in Peru, drought in Indonesia, Africa, and Australia, torrential downpours and mudslides in southern California, a mild winter in the northeast, and fewer hurricanes in the southeast. Keep in mind that these effects aren't guaranteed, but an El Niño makes these conditions more likely to happen.
How does El Niño affect sea life and birds?
Kelp forests also depend on cool, nutrient-rich water for survival and growth. An El Niño reduces the upwelling of cold water off the coast of the Americas. When this happens, fish either die or migrate into areas where they'll find more to eat. With the fish gone, sea birds that depend on them may die or go elsewhere. Kelp forests are often destroyed by storms and ocean swells.
How can we predict El Niño?
In the tropical Pacific Ocean, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration operates a network of buoys that measure temperature, currents and winds in the equatorial band. The collected data are evaluated by complex computer models designed to predict an El Niño. Even these complex models, however, cannot predict the exact intensity or duration of an El Niño, nor can they predict how areas will be affected.
Overview
Regional impacts
Observations of El Niño events since 1950 show that impacts associated with El Niño events depend on the time of year. However, while certain events and impacts are expected to occur during events, it is not certain or guaranteed that they will occur. The impacts that generally do occur during most El Niño events include below-average rainfall over Indonesia and northern South America, whi…
Concept
Originally, the term El Niño applied to an annual weak warm ocean current that ran southwards along the coast of Peru and Ecuador at about Christmas time. However, over time the term has evolved and now refers to the warm and negative phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation and is the warming of the ocean surface or above-average sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. This warming causes a shift in the atmospheric circulation with r…
Occurrences
El Niño events are thought to have been occurring for thousands of years. For example, it is thought that El Niño affected the Moche in modern-day Peru, who sacrificed humans in order to try to prevent the rains.
It is thought that there have been at least 30 El Niño events since 1900, with the 1982–83, 1997–98 and 2014–16 events among the strongest on record. Since 2000, El Niño events have …
Cultural history and prehistoric information
ENSO conditions have occurred at two- to seven-year intervals for at least the past 300 years, but most of them have been weak. Evidence is also strong for El Niño events during the early Holocene epoch 10,000 years ago.
El Niño may have led to the demise of the Moche and other pre-Columbian Peruvian cultures. A recent study suggests a strong El Niño effect between 1789 and 1793 caused poor crop yields i…
Diversity
It is thought that there are several different types of El Niño events, with the canonical eastern Pacific and the Modoki central Pacific types being the two that receive the most attention. These different types of El Niño events are classified by where the tropical Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies are the largest. For example, the strongest sea surface temperature …
Effects on the global climate
El Niño affects the global climate and disrupts normal weather patterns, which as a result can lead to intense storms in some places and droughts in others.
Most tropical cyclones form on the side of the subtropical ridge closer to the equator, then move poleward past the ridge axis before recurving into the main belt of the Westerlies. Areas west of Japan and Korea tend to experience many f…
Socio-ecological effects for humanity and nature
When El Niño conditions last for many months, extensive ocean warming and the reduction in easterly trade winds limits upwelling of cold nutrient-rich deep water, and its economic effect on local fishing for an international market can be serious.
More generally, El Niño can affect commodity prices and the macroeconomy of different countries. It can constrain the supply of rain-driven agricultural commodities; reduce agricultura…