El Nio, ( Spanish: The Christ Child) in oceanography and climatology, the anomalous

appearance, every few years, of unusually warm ocean conditions along the tropical west
coast of South America. This event is associated with adverse effects on fishing,
agriculture, and local weather from Ecuador toChile and with far-field climatic anomalies in
the equatorial Pacific and occasionally in Asia and North America as well. The Oceanic
Nio Index (ONI), a measure of the departure from normal sea surface temperature in the
east-central Pacific Ocean, is the standard means by which each El Nio episode is
determined, gauged, and forecast. El Nio episodes are indicated by sea surface
temperature increases of more than 0.5 C (0.9 F) for at least five successive overlapping
three-month seasons.
The name El Nio was originally used during the 19th century by the fishermen of
northern Peru in reference to the annual flow of warm equatorial waters southward
around Christmas time. Peruvian scientists later noted that more intense changes occurred
at intervals of several years and were associated with catastrophic seasonal flooding along
the normally arid coast, while the thermal anomalies lasted for a year or more. The more
unusual episodes gained world attention during the 20th century, and the original annual
connotation of the name was replaced by that of the anomalous occurrence.
The timing and intensity of El Nio events vary widely. The first recorded occurrence of
unusual desert rainfall was in 1525, when the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro
landed in northern Peru. Historians suggest that the desert rains and vegetation
encountered by the Spaniards may have facilitated their conquest of the Inca empire. The
intensity of El Nio episodes varies from weak thermal anomalies (23 C [about 45 F])
with only moderate local effects to very strong anomalies (810 C [1418 F]) associated
with worldwide climatic perturbations. El Nio events occur irregularly at two- to seven-year
intervals, and the strong events are less common. The intermittency varies widely,
however, and the phenomenon is neither periodic nor predictable in the sense that ocean
tides are.
Beginning with the work of Sir Gilbert Walker in the 1930s, climatologists recognized a
similar interannual change in the tropical atmosphere, which Walker termed the Southern
Oscillation (SO). El Nio and the Southern Oscillation appear to be the oceanic and
atmospheric components of a single large-scale, coupled interactionthe El Nio/Southern
Oscillation (ENSO). During the warm phase of ENSO, the South Pacific trade-wind system
undergoes a change of state, or seesaw, in which the westward-blowing trades weaken
along the Equator as the normally high pressure in the eastern South Pacific decreases
and the low pressure over northern Australia and Indonesia rises. The pressure change
and diminished trade winds cause warm surface water to move eastward along the Equator
from the western Pacific, while the warm surface layer in the east becomes thicker. Under
normal conditions, the northward-blowing winds off South America cause nutrient-rich
waters to upwell from below the shallow, warm surface layer. The nutrients (mainly
phosphates and nitrates) provide a plentiful supply of food for photosynthesizing plankton,
on which the fishfeed. During El Nio, however, the thicker surface layer acts as a barrier to
effective upwelling by the coastal winds. The unenriched surface waters are poor in
nutrients and cannot support the normally productive coastal ecosystem. Fish populations
are decimated as great numbers migrate to less-affected areas in search of food, resulting
in temporarily reduced yields for the countries in the region. In 197273 this led not only to
local economic setbacks but to repercussions in the world commodity markets as well.
The warm ocean conditions in the equatorial Pacific induce large-scale anomalies in the
atmosphere. Rainfall increases manyfold in Ecuador and northern Peru, causing coastal
flooding and erosion and consequent hardships in transportation and agriculture.
Additionally, strong El Nio events are associated with droughts in Indonesia, Australia,
and northeastern South America and with altered patterns of tropical storms in the tropical
belt. During the stronger El Nio episodes, the atmospheric teleconnections are extensive
enough to cause unusually severe winter weather at the higher latitudes of North and South
America.
The El Nio episodes of 198283 and 199798 were the most intense of the 20th century.
The 198283 episode lasted from mid-1982 to mid-1983. Sea surface temperatures in the
eastern tropical Pacific and much of the equatorial zone farther west were 510 C (918
F) above normal. Australia was hit by severe drought; typhoons occurred as far east as
Tahiti; and central Chile suffered from record rainfall and flooding. Also, the west coast of
North America was unusually stormy during the winter of 198283, and fish catches were
dramatically altered from Mexico to Alaska.
The El Nio episode of 199798 is regarded by some scientists as the strongest such
event of the 20th century and has the distinction of being the first episode monitored from
beginning to end by scientific instrumentation. Although sea surface temperatures and
weather patterns paralleled the 198283 event, the ONI for the 199798 episode was the
highest on record. The 199798 event produced drought conditions in Brazil,
Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines and brought heavy rains to the dry seacoast of
Peru. In the United States the southeastern states and Californiaexperienced significant
increases in winter rainfall, and record-breaking warm temperatures in the upper Midwest
caused some journalists to label the period the year without a winter.