Hi Davis! I just got a new assignment about something
called El Niño. It's responsible for disrupting weather all over
the world. The Chief thinks it could be a man, but I think that he's got
his facts wrong. Can you tell me about El Niño?
"Well,
there is a man named El Niño, but I don't think a Mexican wrestler
is responsible for disrupting weather patterns. The El Niño you're
looking for isn't a person, it's a weather phenomenon.
"El
Niño is the occasional warming of surface waters in the central
and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. It involves a pool of warm ocean
water drifting slowly, coming to rest off the western coast of South America.
Trade winds take heat from this pool, and heat the atmosphere with it.
This creates changes in weather patterns across the globe.
"El
Niño means "The Little One" or "Christ Child" in Spanish. This name
was used because of its tendency to arrive around Christmas. Scientific
types refer to El Niño as ENSO -- El Niño / Southern Oscillation.
"El Niño has an opposite
effect called La Niña. La Niña is a similar weather phenomenon
where the temperature of the surface water in the tropical Pacific drops
below normal. La Niña occurs after some, but not all, El Niño
years.
"To repeat: El Niño
is not a man, it's a weather phenomenon that involves the occasional warming
of surface waters in the Pacific Ocean. It's going to be hard to get an
interview with that."
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