Reference Terms
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El Niño-Southern Oscillation
El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a global coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomenon. The Pacific ocean signatures, El Niño and La Niña (also written in English as El Nino and La Nina) are major temperature fluctuations in surface waters of the tropical Eastern Pacific Ocean. The names, from the Spanish for "the little boy" and "the little girl", refer to the Christ child, because the phenomenon is usually noticed around Christmas time in the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of South America. Their effect on climate in the southern hemisphere is profound. These effects were first described in 1923 by Sir Gilbert Thomas Walker from whom the Walker circulation, an important aspect of the Pacific ENSO phenomenon, takes its name. The atmospheric signature, the Southern Oscillation (SO) reflects the monthly or seasonal fluctuations in the air pressure difference between Tahiti and Darwin. El Nino affects Australia by drought.
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November 11, 2026
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Nov. 6, 2026 Scientists have solved a mystery surrounding destructive beetles attacking blueberry bushes in North Carolina, identifying a species whose massive larvae can grow up to five inches long and destroy plant roots. Although farmers have reported damage ...
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Oct. 29, 2026 Ancient ice discovered high in Tibet may be more than 128,000 years old, preserving an extraordinary record of Earth's climate that scientists previously thought had been lost. The discovery reveals a rare glimpse into the last ice age and could ...
Oct. 28, 2026 Scientists have uncovered a surprising connection between Earth's opposite poles that may help explain how the planet plunged into past ice ages. New research suggests that as massive ice sheets expanded across the Northern Hemisphere, they cooled ...
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Oct. 26, 2026 Arctic winter sea ice could disappear much faster than scientists previously expected, according to new research using climate clues from 6,000 years ago. By comparing ancient ocean sediments with modern climate models, researchers found that future ...
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Nov. 10, 2026 A century-old theory about the origins of life on Earth may be wrong. New research from the University of Cambridge suggests that comets traveled too ...
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Nov. 2, 2026 NASA satellites have captured an eerie, skull-shaped formation on a remote Antarctic island, but its haunting appearance conceals a troubling warning about melting glaciers. Unusually warm winter ...
Oct. 30, 2026 Scientists may have solved a 66-million-year-old mystery: how crocodiles survived the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. A sweeping analysis of fossils and ancient climates suggests that their ...
Oct. 28, 2026 Scientists have discovered that magma deep inside Earth can store surprising amounts of extra oxygen, potentially revealing a hidden contributor to our planet's oxygen-rich atmosphere. The findings ...
Oct. 28, 2026 Scientists have uncovered a long-lost volcanic system in Iran that dates back roughly 100 million years, revealing a hidden chapter in Earth's tectonic history. The discovery sheds new light on the ...
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