EL NIÑO

(Oceanography and Meteorology) (From the child (i.e., the Christ child)) The name of a southward-flowing ocean current off the coast of Peru causing an irregularly occurring flow of unusually warm surface water along the western coast of South America that is accompanied by abnormally high rainfall in usually arid areas and that prevents upwelling of nutrient-rich cold deep water causing a decline in the regional fish population. It typically results in a warm inshore current flowing along the coast of Ecuador and about every seven to ten years it extends southward down the coast of Peru with frequently devastating effects on weather, crops, and fishing (due to adverse effects on plankton). El Niño's warm and nutrient-poor waters cause great damage to the fishing industry and also to the birds feeding there, which are an important source of guano. The climatic effects of large-scale El Niño disturbances also cause flooding and drought conditions over a wide area, sometimes extending as far as the southern Pacific Ocean, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Such disturbances have taken place in 1953, 1957-58, 1972-73, 1976, 1982-83, and 1992. It is also believed that this condition (El Niño Effect) has more far-reaching effects on climatological patterns in the Western Hemisphere and also influences storm patterns in the western Atlantic Ocean region (Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico). It has generally been found that the presence of El Niño tends to reduce hurricane activity while the presence of La Niña, or cool eastern Pacific waters, tends to increase hurricane activity. Also see Hurricane Forecasting.