El Niño and La Niña (also written in English as El Nino and La Nina) are major temperature fluctuations in surface waters of the tropical Eastern Pacific Ocean. The names, from the Spanish for “the little boy” and “the little girl”, refer to the Christ child, because the phenomenon is usually noticed around Christmas time in the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of South America. La Niña was once called Anti-Niño because it is the opposite of El Niño in a sense of physics.
It was soon realized, however, that it could be interpreted as anti-Christ. Therefore, to avoid unnecessary religious repercussions, La Niña was chosen to replace Anti-Niño. They are Pacific signatures of the global ENSO phenomenon (El Niño-Southern Oscillation). Their effect on climate in the southern hemisphere is profound. Their role in global warming or cooling is an area of active research, with no clear consensus yet. These effects were first described in 1923 by Sir Gilbert Thomas Walker from whom the Walker circulation, an important aspect of the Pacific ENSO phenomenon, takes its name.
El Nino has recurred about twenty four times in the last century. It is first recorded as far back as the early 1500's and returns on average of once every four years Cane. El Nino causes much destruction in the short time it lasts. This system has been known to cause forest fires, typhoons, torrential rains, unusually powerful hurricanes, flash floods, severe droughts, and freak snow storms Nash.
The 1982 El Nino is thought to have triggered the 1982 eruption of the El Chichon volcano in Mexico. The 1982-1983 El Nino also caused so much destruction that the weather-related damage estimated at more than 6.5 billion. A typhoon named Iwa, caused by El Nino that hit the Hawaiian Islands in November, 19823 caused 2 million in damages.............
