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What are El Nino and La Nina?

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2021-06-04 18:30:08

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Warmer or colder than average ocean temperatures in one part of the world can influence weather around the globe. Watch this Ocean Today video to see how this works.

During normal conditions in the Pacific ocean, trade winds blow west along the equator, taking warm water from South America towards Asia. To replace that warm water, cold water rises from the depths — a process called upwelling. El Nino and La Nina are two opposing climate patterns that break these normal conditions. Scientists call these phenomena the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle. El Nino and La Nina can both have global impacts on weather, wildfires, ecosystems, and economies. Episodes of El Nino and La Nina typically last nine to 12 months, but can sometimes last for years. El Nino and La Nina events occur every two to seven years, on average, but they don’t occur on a regular schedule. Generally, El Nino occurs more frequently than La Nina. El Nino

El Nino 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 Nino de Navidad, because El Nino typically peaks around December.

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