The El Nino-Southern Oscillation better known as the El Nino is a change that occurs periodically in the tropical Pacific regions ocean and atmosphere.
In the atmosphere it is defined by pressure difference between Darwin, Tahiti and Australia, while the ocean changes are noted by cooling or warming of surface water in the eastern and tropical central Pacific Ocean. This oscillation of warm and cool occurs every three to eight years and El Nino is the warm phase.
El Nino is abbreviated ENSO and is Spanish for ‘the boy’ referring to Christ child as this warming is noticed around Christmas. El Nino affects the weather in different ways but is generally associated with extremes such as droughts, floods, famines, bush fires, rainstorms and other weather disturbances in regions across the globe. Unfortunately it is a poorly understood recurrent climatic event.
