The origin of the name of the El Niño phenomenon is related to Christmas

Surely you have received information about the El Niño and La Niña phenomena, and the impacts they cause around the planet: droughts, floods and extreme temperatures. Have you ever wondered what is the origin of the name of the phenomenon?

The origin of the name is related to something very important in meteorology and in science in general, observation. We know that El Niño is related to a warming in the Pacific Ocean in the equatorial zone, and La Niña is a cooling.

One of the first written references where possible effects related to El Niño are mentioned, in Peru, is in a letter from 1891 that describes how the deserts became greener and species of fish never seen before were found.

It was precisely the Peruvian fishermen who noticed that in some years the waters of the Pacific were warmer on the coast of Peru. Normally in front of this South American country the waters tend to be cold and rich in nutrients due to the Humboldt current.

At Christmas is the origin of the name

This water warming occurred towards the end of December near Christmas. In Catholicism, this date is marked by the birth of "The Child Jesus" and that is why the phenomenon El Niño was named in the 19th century.

The cold waters of the Peruvian Pacific heat up to 12 °C more than normal on the surface when El Niño is present.

What about La Nina (translating to "the girl")

With the advance of meteorological observation, especially with the appearance of the satellite, it was found that there are other years where the waters in that region are colder than normal and the counterpart of El Niño had to be called in a different way, that's where La Niña arises.

Half a century of research

This phenomenon began to be studied in the 1970s when it was detected that the impact of El Niño was not only in Peru, hence the record of the years where it was presented.

According to information from the Ministry of the Environment of Peru, in the last 500 years at least 120 episodes of El Niño have been recorded, the most intense were those of 1982-1983, 1997-1998 and 2015-2016.

What causes these oscillations in ocean temperature?

Scientists have not discovered exactly what initiates these cooling and warming cycles in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, although it is known that these temperature changes are associated with changes in atmospheric pressure, which in turn modify the direction and speed of the wind in this region of the Pacific.

Regarding climate change, there is a lot of uncertainty about how El Niño and La Niña could change as the planet continues to warm up. Some research indicates that very intense episodes will be more frequent.

Learn to live with El Niño and La Niña

Researchers argue that this phenomenon should not be seen as something negative, rather take advantage of them, for example, storing water in dams to cope with the years of scarcity. As a society, it remains for us to prepare for its effects and be informed, but always from reliable sources so as not to fall into alarmism.