 El Niño/La NiñaSouthern

Oscillation, or ENSO, is a quasiperiodic climate pattern that occurs across the tropical Pacific
Ocean roughly every five years.
 The two variations are coupled: the warm oceanic phase, El Niño, accompanies high air
surface pressure in the western Pacific, while the cold phase, La Niña, accompanies low
air surface pressure in the eastern Pacific. Mechanisms that cause the oscillation remain
under study.
 When this warming or cooling occurs for only seven to nine months, it is classified as El
Niño/La Niña "conditions"; when it occurs for more than that period, it is classified as El
Niño/La Niña "episodes". The first signs of an El Niño are:
1. Rise in surface pressure over the Indian Ocean, Indonesia, and Australia
2. Fall in air pressure over Tahiti and the rest of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean
3. Trade winds in the south Pacific weaken or head east
4. Warm air rises near Peru, causing rain in the northern Peruvian deserts

 A series of Kelvin waves —relatively warm subsurface

waves of water a few centimetres high and hundreds of kilometres wide—cross the Pacific along
the equator and create a pool of warm water near South America, where ocean temperatures are
normally cold due to upwelling
 Jacob Bjerknes in 1969 contributed to an understanding of ENSO by suggesting that an
anomalously warm spot in the eastern Pacific can weaken the eastwest temperature
difference, disrupting trade winds that push warm water to the west.

 the MaddenJulian Oscillation -may influence the speed of development and intensity of
El Niño and La Niña in several ways.[

 Southern Oscillation
The Southern Oscillation is the atmospheric component of El Niño. This component is an
oscillation in surface air pressure between the tropical eastern and the western Pacific Ocean
waters. The strength of the Southern Oscillation is measured by the Southern Oscillation Index
(SOI). The SOI is computed from fluctuations in the surface air pressure difference between
Tahiti and Darwin, Australia. El Niño episodes are associated with negative values of the SOI,
meaning that the pressure difference between Tahiti and Darwin is relatively small.

 Walker circulation During nonEl Niño conditions, the Walker circulation is seen at the
surface as easterly trade winds that move water and air warmed by the sun toward the
west.

Effects of ENSO's Cool Phase (La Niña)

 La Niña is the name for the cold phase of ENSO, during which the cold pool in the
eastern Pacific intensifies and the trade winds strengthen. The name La Niña originates
from Spanish, meaning "the girl", analogous to El Niño meaning "the boy". It has also in
the past been called antiEl Niño , and El Viejo (meaning "the old man").
Africa
Asia.
South America
  Recent occurrences

 Impact of El Niño in the Philippines

 ENSO has detrimental impacts on the Philippine people, economy, poverty levels, and
agricultural sector.
 Average Rainfall in Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao.
 ENSO’s impacts on agriculture have economywide implications.
Over 7 million hectares of the Philippines’ 30 million hectares are devoted to agriculture.
Agriculture was only 12.5 percent of total gross domestic product (GDP) in 2011.

 Strong El Niño events lead to GDP losses, while strong La Niña events lead to smaller
GDP gains.

 Health Consequences of El Niño

The health consequences of El Niño is summarize below as shown in the next diagram.
 Both droughts and flooding may trigger food insecurity, increase malnutrition and thus
enhance
vulnerability to infectious diseases;
 Droughts, flooding and intense rainfall (including cyclones) may cause loss of life, significant
population displacement, water and vectorborne
disease outbreaks and may damage or close
health facilities, thus reducing regular health service delivery and restricting access to healthcare
during the emergency and well beyond the event;
 El Niñorelated
warmer temperatures may result in vectorborne
disease epidemics in highland
areas, which are too cold for vector survival and disease transmission at other times;
 Damaged or flooded sanitation infrastructure may lead to waterborne
diseases;
 Extremely hot and dry conditions may lead to heat waves, wildfires, increased smoke and
deteriorated air quality, causing or exacerbating respiratory diseases and heat stress;
 Populations already affected by a humanitarian situation (e.g. in internally displaced persons
and
refugee camps) face heightened risk of suffering health consequences of either wet or dry
conditions.
 Globally, natural disasters such as droughts, floods and storms kill more women than men,
and
tend to kill women at a younger age. These effects also interact with the nature of the event and
social status. The gendergap
effects on life expectancy tend to be greater in more severe
disasters, and in places where the socioeconomic status of women is particularly low.
Health and social impacts of El Niño
Extreme weather conditions related to the El Niño cycle correlate with changes in the incidence
of epidemic diseases. For example, the El Niño cycle is associated with increased risks of some
of the
diseases transmitted by mosquitoes, such as malaria, dengue, and Rift Valley fever. Cycles of
malaria
in India, Venezuela, and Colombia have now been linked to El Niño. Outbreaks of another
mosquitotransmitted
disease, Australian

 Health and social impacts of El Niño