What is El Niño?
El Niño is a disruption of the ocean-atmosphere system in the Tropical Pacific having important consequences for weather and climate around the globe: The currents that power the ocean fluctuate from year to year, and these variations influence the atmosphere. El Niño is one of the most famous and powerful of these ocean-atmosphere interactions. This is the unusually warm current that invades South and Central American coastal waters at the end of some years. This unexpected warm water causes changes in fish populations, rainfall and weather across North and South America.
Although scientists don't fully understand how fluctuations such as El Niño work, they are learning more about them. Early prediction for such events will help people be better prepared to deal with the next El Niño and save lives and property.
What's in the Name El Niño?
El Niño was named by people who fish off the western coast of Central America to refer to the warm current that invades their coastal waters around Christmastime. El Niño events disrupt fisheries and bring severe weather events worldwide.