Difference between El NiNo and la Nina

El Niño vs la Nina

The El Niño phenomenon was first noticed by fishermen off the west course of South America as represented by the occurrence of unreasonably warm water in the Pacific Ocean towards the beginning of the New Year. In Spanish El Niño stands for child Christ, and since this phenomenon would occur around Christmas, the name stuck. La Nina on the other stands for little girl and denotes a cold event or a cold episode.

El Niño is the more prevalent phenomenon of the two whereas La Nina makes an appearance every few years. That being said global warming is going to see greater occurrence of both the phenomena though El Niño shall continue to be the more widespread one. A strong El Niño is usually an indicator that a la Nina is around the corner.

The El Niño phenomenon usually occurs when the surface of the ocean heats up by more than half a degree Celsius above normal. La Nina on the other hand occurs when the reverse happens; that is the surface temperature of the ocean falls half a degree Celsius below normal.

Under El Niño the atmospheric and oceanic conditions are such that the ocean currents cause a movement of warmer water to the eastern Pacific Ocean. This in effects causes a process, which causes severe warming of the ocean off the north western coast of South America. This prevents water from deep within the ocean which is rich in nutrients to come up. This causes the fish in the ocean to migrate further south thereby creating drought like conditions in the region. This invariably causes drought in the southwestern part of North America. La Nina on the other hand is the outcome of diametrically opposite conditions. It occurs when warm water builds up in the west part of the Pacific Ocean, thereby causing drought like conditions over there and causing floods in northern South America and mild wet summers and drought in North America in the South Eastern part of the United States.

All said and done both these phenomena are deviations from normal weather patterns and don’t do anybody any good.

Summary:
1.In Spanish El Niño stands for child Christ, and since this phenomenon would occur around Christmas, the name stuck. La Nina on the other stands for little girl and denotes a cold event or a cold episode.
2.El Niño is the more prevalent phenomenon of the two whereas La Nina makes an appearance every few years.
3.The El Niño phenomenon usually occurs when the surface of the ocean heats up by more than half a degree Celsius above normal. La Nina on the other hand when the reverse happens; that is the surface temperature of the ocean falls half a degree Celsius below normal.

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