El Niño

El Niño, or El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a warm current that temporarily raises the surface-water temperature off the Peruvian and Ecuadorian coasts around Christmas, hence the name ("the child"). Occasionally, especially warm waters disrupt the food chain significantly. Notably strong El Niño episodes have occurred in 1541, 1578, 1614, 1624, 1652, 1701, 1720, 1728, 1763, 1770, 1791, 1804, 1814, 1828, 1845, 1864, 1871, 1877–1878, 1884, 1891, 1899, 1911, 1918, 1925–1926, 1941, 1957–1958, 1972–1973, 1982–1983, 1991–1992, 1993, 1994, 1997–1998, 2002–2003, 2004–2005, and 2006–2007. Observers have noted "teleconnections," such as drought in central Chile and northeast Brazil and heavy rain in Peru and Ecuador. During strong El Niño years, eastern Africa gets more rain and Canadian winters are warmer. Moreover, global climate change further exacerbates the effects of El Niño. The research of Sir Gilbert Walker (1868–1958), Jakob Bjerknes (1897–1975), and the 1985–1995 Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere (TOGA) study have contributed to a comprehensive explanation for El Niño events and their global implications. In the twenty-first century, many countries employ numerical prediction models to better adapt to and prevent the climate variability effects El Niño produces. International bodies such as the Center on Research El Niño (CIIFEN) headquartered in Guayaquil, Ecuador, likewise generate scientific research to assist on a regional scale.

See alsoFishing Industry .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

William H. Quinn et al., "Historical Trends and Statistics of the Southern Oscillation, El Niño, and Indonesian Droughts," in Fishery Bulletin 76, no. 3 (July 1978): 663-678.

Kevin Hamilton and Rolando R. García, "El Niño/Southern Oscillation Events and Their Associated Midlatitude Teleconnections, 1531–1841," in Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 67 no. 11 (November 1986): 1354-1361.

M. H. Glantz et al., eds., Teleconnections Linking Worldwide Climate Anomalies: Scientific Basis and Societal Impact (1991).

Additional Bibliography

Caviedes, César. El Niño in History: Storming through the Ages. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2001.

Gasparri, Enrico; Carlo Tassara; and Margarita Velasco. El fenómeno de El Niño en el Ecuador, 1997–1999: Del desastre a la prevención. Quito, Ecuador: Ediciones Abya-Yala, 1999.

Lawas, Edward A. El Niño and the Peruvian Anchovy Fishery. Sausalito, CA: University Science Books, 1997.

Sandweiss, Daniel H.; Jeffrey Quilter; and Joanne Pillsbury. El Niño, Catastrophism, and Culture Change in Ancient America: A Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks, 12th-13th October 2002. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2008.

Sesé, José María, and Ruth Magali Rosas. El fenómeno "El Niño" en la costa norte del Perú a través de la histoira; Perú-Ecuador: Un espacio compartido. Piura, Peru: Universidad de Piura, 2001.

                                        Robert H. Claxton