Synonyms
La Niña is also called Anti-El Niño and El Viejo
Definition
El Niño (The Christ child) is a seasonal current that typically transports warm sea surface water from the Pacific coast of Central America to the equatorial Eastern Pacific. Also, it refers to the migration of Central Pacific equatorial warm water to the east, and the warm phase of the Southern Oscillation.
La Niña (The little girl) is the cool phase of the Southern Oscillation.
El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the coupled ocean–atmospheric shifts in high pressure centers from the equatorial Western Pacific to the equatorial Eastern Pacific.
Introduction
El Niño, La Niña, and El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) are related but distinct phenomena. The El Niño current is a seasonal, warm current that typically originates near Central America and flows into sea surface waters off Ecuador and Peru. This current typically appears in late December or early January, and its association with Christmas and the Epiphany...
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Feingold, J.S. (2011). El Niño, La Niña, and ENSO. In: Hopley, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Modern Coral Reefs. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2639-2_74
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