El Niño
/ɛl ˈniːnjəʊ
/noun (plural El Niños)
An irregularly occurring and complex series of climatic changes affecting the equatorial Pacific region and beyond every few years, characterized by the appearance of unusually warm, nutrient-poor water off northern Peru and Ecuador, typically in late December. The effects of El Niño include reversal of wind patterns across the Pacific, drought in Australasia, and unseasonal heavy rain in South America.The El Niño drought over eastern Australia in 1982 led to tinder dry conditions throughout the grasslands and forests of southeastern Australia....
- The measurement of Sea-Surface Temperature anomalies helps to determine whether climate patterns like El Niño are developing.
- You can think of the upper air winds as being like a white-water river and the effects of an El Niño as being somewhat like moving some of the rocks in a white-water stream.
Origin
Spanish, literally 'the (Christ) child', because of the occurrence near Christmas.