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El Niño, the professional wrestler.
   
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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