El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a coupled ocean–atmosphere phenomenon in the tropical Pacific characterized by quasi-periodic fluctuations between warm (El Niño), cold (La Niña), and neutral phases. It arises from interactions among equatorial Pacific sea-surface temperatures, trade winds, and the Walker circulation, producing large-scale anomalies in convection, thermocline depth, and surface pressure, notably the Southern Oscillation index. ENSO modulates global atmospheric circulation, altering precipitation, temperature, and storm tracks on interannual timescales, and serves as a key source of seasonal-to-interannual climate variability and predictability in climate diagnostics and modeling.
Arthropods, including insects and spiders, make up the vast majority of animal species on the planet.
Plants & Animals
Aug 6, 2025
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The butterfly effect suggests that small changes in a system can have a large impact on eventual outcomes. One metaphor used to illustrate this concept is a butterfly flapping its wings only to cause a hurricane across the ...
Earth Sciences
May 28, 2025
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A Monash University-led study is prompting scientists to rethink how the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) system evolved and how it might behave in the future as our climate continues to change.
Earth Sciences
May 26, 2025
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The El Niño phenomenon in the South Atlantic and Benguela current, which flows along the west coast of southern Africa, have a significant impact on the tropical Atlantic region, leading to extensive effects on local marine ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 14, 2025
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See you later La Niña, we hardly knew you.
Environment
Apr 10, 2025
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The El Niño and Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is one of the most influential interannual climate phenomena in the global ocean-atmospheric system, with profound impacts on weather patterns, particularly in the Asia-Pacific ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 3, 2025
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An international team of geoscientists, marine geologists, climatologists, and environmental specialists has found that lingering El Niño events have increased in frequency over the past 7,000 years. In their study published ...
El Niño, a climate phenomenon marked by warming sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific, is known to trigger extreme weather events worldwide, from droughts and floods to disruptions in agriculture ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 28, 2025
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The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the most prominent interannual climate variability signal, has been widely studied for its teleconnections with Antarctic sea ice variability. However, its influence on the predictability ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 13, 2025
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