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They are opposite phases of the same oscillation (El Nino Southern Oscillation) centered in the Tropical Pacific Ocean.

El Niño is a weather phenomena which tends to occur in tropical waters of the Pacific Ocean. It affects the region across the Pacific from New Guinea to South America, known as the Equatorial Pacific. During an El Niño season, which occurs on average every 2-7 years, a shift in ocean currents and winds brings warm water in a westerly direction, displacing the usual cold water that comes up from the ocean depths. As well as affecting marine life, the El Niño has an effect on weather patterns.

Under normal conditions, in the tropics warm oceans tend to be accompanied by heavy rains, resulting in heavy rains in the warm west Pacific while the cooler east Pacific receives far less rainfall. This is reversed during an El Niño, when the ocean temperature gradient from one side of the Pacific to the other weakens. Warmer than usual ocean temperatures cause droughts in the west, while the unusually warm eastern waters bring heavy rains and floods to the Pacific coast of South America, which is usually much drier.

It's all a matter of interactions between the oceans and the atmosphere. Changes in sea surface temperatures causes a shift in air pressure which, in turn, can result in climatic anomalies, such as severe droughts, flooding and even cyclones. One of the effects is that the normal circulation patterns over the Pacific are disrupted, and moisture-bearing trade winds weaken, whilst drier westerlies increase.

El Niño has a number of effects, beyond causing droughts and floods on opposite sides of the Pacific. It causes die-offs of plankton and fish and affects Pacific jet stream winds, altering storm tracks and creating unusual weather patterns in various parts of the world. Scientific investigations of this phenomenon are ongoing, and it is yet to be determined whether El Niño is oceanic or atmospheric.

La Niña is the opposite of El Nino. It involves cooler than normal sea temperatures in the same part of the Pacific Ocean. This means that weather conditions, etc, are in reverse to those seen during El Niño.

Both phenomena are phases of warming and cooling in the Tropical Pacific Ocean. They cycle through after a period of years - the number is not precise and can range considerably compared to other phenomena like this - and usually have some warning signs the year before a change.

The names are derived from Spanish: El Nino is spanish for "boy" and La Nina is spanish for "girl".

A:These weather events both refer to the movement of warm surface water (the first 200 metres deep is between 20 and 30°C) in the tropical Pacific Ocean.

When there is no La Niña or El Niño, the trade winds blow the warm water to the west Pacific. This brings rainfall to the countries there.

During a La Niña event, the winds blow more strongly, increasing this rainfall. At the same time, on the eastern side of the Pacific, cold water is allowed to rise, reducing rainfall, but bringing nutrients to encourage fish and marine life.

During an El Niño event, the normal trade winds are weaker. This allows more warm water to move back towards the Americas, increasing rainfall there. The warm water blocks the nutrient-rich cold water from rising, reducing fish stocks. At the same time in the western Pacific the reduction in warm water means drier conditions and even drought to a country like Australia.

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9y ago
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11y ago

A tornado is a violently rotating column of air extending from the base of a thunderstorm to the ground. It is a small scale and short-lived but often destructive weather phenomenon.

El Niño is a twenty-seven mile long ocean current off the western coast of South America that affects little more than the local area surrounding it.

Due to the errors of mass media, many believe El Niño to be a large-scale weather event that is characterized by warmer than average sea-surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. It is a long term event that impacts weather worldwide for months. This phenomenon is, however, more accurately called the Southern Oscillation.

See the links below for glossary entries that help explain this in more detail.

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13y ago

El Nino is the temperature of the pacific ocean it is what effects our weather. Earthquake is a shift of the earths tectonic plates.

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12y ago

Much of the Equatorial Pacific is abnormally warm during El Nino and unusually cool during La Nina, by definition. The effect this has on Earth's climate varies by region, however.

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8y ago

el nino is a storm

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Q: Defferences in earthquake and el nino?
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