E A RT H S Y S T E M S C I E N C E A S S I G N M E N T

ON

EL NIÑO AND LA
NIÑA
By Akshat Sharma
Roll no. 5552
 Introduction and Discovery of phenomenon

C o n t e n t s o f Phases on ENSO

t he Periodicity and duration of occurrence

e s e n t a t i o n
pr ENSO and Global Rainfall pattern

El Nino and Indian monsoon

El Nino causing Global Warming?

Effects of ENSO

Conclusion followed by Bibliography

 Introduction
El Niño is a natural phenomenon which causes the unusual warming
of water in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, off the coast of South
America. It is the warm phase of El Niño - Southern
Oscillations(SO) where as La Niña is the cold phase and SO is the
irregular variation in winds and sea surface temperature in the
region. El Niño means 'Christ child' or 'Little boy' in Spanish. It was
named by fishermen in Peru who thought this unusual warming
around Christmas was an act of Jesus.

La Niña is the colder counterpart of El Niño which causes more than

usual cooling along the coast of South America due to increase in
thespeed of trade winds which leads to increased movement of warm
water towards Western Pacific and more upwelling of cooler water in
the region. La Niña means 'the little girl' in Spanish as it is counterpart
to 'the little boy'.
 Discovery of ENSO
The discovery of this unusual event was done by fishermen in Peru but it’s
scientific understanding took time. Various personalities contributed towards it.
They are:-

Henry Blanford Charles Todd Gilbert Walker Jacob Bjerknes

Through this information, it can be inferred that the discovery of

these short term climatic variations is an example of hard work of
many people.
 Three phases of ENSO
The occurrence of El Niño- Southern Oscillations
can be understood by understanding the three phases
of Atmospheric pressure and Sea surface
temperatures (SST) over the Pacific Ocean.
 ENSO Neutral
In ENSO Neutral conditions, The trade wind blow from South-East to northwest direction
as this region of the Pacific falls between Equator and Subtropical zone. This causes the
surface water to also move in the same direction thereby leading to warmer water moving
towards Western Pacific and cooler water due to Upwelling and Peru current in the Eastern
Pacific.
Processes occurring in ENSO Neutral :
• Surface wind movement towards western pacific
• Wind causes surface water near south America to move towards Australia and create a
water level gradient.
• The water level in Indonesia is 50cm higher than in Peru
• Convective movement in Western Pacific- The warmer, moisture-rich air rises to
replace the cooler air higher up and condenses to form clouds and cause precipitation
in the region.
• This dry air now starts moving towards the east and sinks near the coast of South
America and again starts moving westward
• The cyclic process of warm air rising due to convection, its movement eastward and
then sinking and again moving towards the west is known as Walker Circulation
• Thermocline rises from west to east. The boundary between warm surface water and
cool deep water comes close to the surface as we move from Australia to Peru due to
Upwelling.
 Warm Phase
The warm phase of ENSO or El Niño refers to the unusual warming of the water off
the coast of Peru and the development of a High-Pressure zone in South East Asia and
Australia. This is due to the weakening or even the reversal of the direction of trade
winds. This decreases the Upwelling warms the coast of South America causing
precipitation and cooling water in the western pacific causing droughts in Asia and
Australia.
Processes taking place in warm phase
• low-pressure zone in east causes air to move towards east from west.
• Eastward moving air also causes surface water to move in the same direction
leading to warm SST in Eastern Pacific.
• The convective movement now occurs near the Americas and causes precipitation
there.
• The thermocline moves deeper in Eastern Pacific and hence less upwelling of
cooler water takes place.
 Cool Phase
The cool phase of ENSO or La Niña is the opposite of El Niño. This
effect causes the trade winds to strengthen even more and thus increases
the pressure difference between the two sides of the Pacific Ocean. The
coast of South America becomes, even more, cooler causing longer dry
spells whereas the temperature in Indonesia and Oceania becomes
warmer, and thus more rainfall occurs. Its occurrence is less dramatic
and more gradual.
Processes taking place in the cooler phase are:
• More flow of air towards west due to higher pressure difference.
• Enhanced flow of surface water from east to west due to stronger
winds.
• More convection and rainfall take place in Low-Pressure Region.
• The slope of the thermocline increases from west to east and the
thermocline comes even closer to the surface near the eastern
margin of the Pacific Ocean
 Periodicity and last occurence
El Niño effect occurs every 2-7 years for a duration of 9 months to 2 years. Its occurrence cannot be
predicted. However, some occurrences affect the climate more than others. The 1876-77, 1997-98 and
2014-16 events are some of the strongest recorded El Niño events in history which caused widespread
droughts, forest fires, floods, etc. across the globe. The latest El Niño event took place in 2019

La Niña occurrence alternates with that of El Niño and hence takes place every few years. The gap
between the two subsequent events is not known. This effect does not cause very high variation in climate
and is not as disastrous as certain El Niño occurrences. The strongest La Niña event was the 1955-56 one
and 2010-11 one and the current 2021-23 La Niña will be the strongest ever and has been named as
'Super La Niña'.
 Oceanic Nina Index (ONI)
The ONI tracks the running 3-month average sea surface temperatures in the east-central tropical Pacific
between 120°-170°W, near the International Dateline, and whether they are warmer or cooler than average.
 El Niño and La Niña Alert System
It is an official monthly update on the status of El Niño and
La Niña. It describes the conditions in the following
categories-

Current Status
 ENSO and Global Rainfall patterns
In Neutral phase

The average annual

precipitation received by
a particular region can be
Rainfall

observed on the map.

Now we compare this
with the precipitation
during El Niño and La
Niña events
 In El Niño year
On observing the rainfall
patterns during El Niño
years, it can be said that
certain regions like India
which receive substantial
rainfall during normal years
are classified as low rainfall
or dry regions in El Niño
years whereas some areas
of the Atacama desert in
Chile become wet zone
 In La Niña year

From the map, it can be

observed that in a La Niña
year, the area of high
rainfall zones spread even
more and dry zones also
expand. Also, regions like
India and Australia will
witness high rainfall and
countries in South America
will see longer dry spells
 El Niño and Indian Monsoon
In normal years, the warm moisture-rich air that
rises in the Western Pacific Ocean starts moving
towards the High-pressure zone at the Peru coast
or the Mascarene High-Pressure zone near
Madagascar. Here, they sink and start moving
towards a low-pressure zone formed over Tibet.
The Himalayas act as a barrier and force the
moisture-rich winds to cause seasonal rainfall in
India. However, during an El Niño year, a high-
pressure zone forms in Western Pacific and hence
fewer winds blow towards the Mascarene zone
causing less rainfall and eventually a drought-like
situation.
 El Nino and Global warming
The increase in sea surface temperatures across the Pacific caused by the El Nino effect leads to the
release of excess energy by oceans in the form of heat. This heat is then absorbed by greenhouse gases
and trapped in Earth's atmosphere thereby increasing the temperature of Earth and causing Global
Warming
 Effects of ENSO
• Apart from impacting the climate, ENSO also affects the marine
ecosystem. The Upwelling of cold water allows the trapped nutrients to
move up and encourage the growth of aquatic animals in the region.
However, when El Niño occurs, the surface temperature suddenly
changes causing unfavorable conditions for organisms and eventually
leading to their end.
• This change also affects the humans and economy dependent on
fishing. The deaths of saltwater fishes reduce their population causing
poor stints and losses. On the other hand, a La Niña event increases the
aquatic population through increased upwelling and hence the economy
and profits.
 Conclusion
The entire assignment was focused on El Nino, La Nina, and
Southern Oscillations. I hope I was able to fulfill the objective of
making everyone understand the concept, occurrence, and effect of
these short-term climatic variations. Various such phenomenons are
governing the functioning of our world and it is important for every
human to know about them.
 Bibliography
Books
• Understanding Earth 7th Edition
• DK's Knowledge Encyclopaedia
• 'Ask me Anything' 2016
• IESO 2018 handbook
Websites
• new.climate.columbia.edu
• iridl.ldeo.columbia.edu
• treehozz.com
• www.oc.nps.edu
• earthobservatory.nasa.gov
Thank You
Assignment by