El Niño
a warm ocean current of variable intensity that develops after late December along the coast of Ecuador and Peru and sometimes causes catastrophic weather conditions.
Origin of El Niño
1- Compare La Niña.
Words Nearby El Niño
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use El Niño in a sentence
The period studied overlapped with fluctuations in the climate that may have played a significant role in the acceleration, including a strong El Niño event from 2014 to 2016, which led to unusually warm waters.
Earth is now trapping an ‘unprecedented’ amount of heat, NASA says | Tik Root | June 16, 2021 | Washington PostThe El Niño phase was waning at the start of 2020, and a La Niña was starting, so the overall impact of this pattern was muted for the year.
2020 and 2016 tie for the hottest years on record | Carolyn Gramling | January 14, 2021 | Science NewsThe year 2016 was marked by a particularly strong El Niño event, a weather pattern that generally contributes to warmer temperatures.
Museum specimens also provided evidence that the virus had been circulating in Southwestern rodent populations for over a decade, and its emergence in humans was linked to El Niño climate cycles.
How fossil preservation and public health are intertwined | By Colella & McLean/The Conversation | December 18, 2020 | Popular-ScienceBoth of these interact with the El Niño–Southern Oscillation.
How Earth’s Climate Changes Naturally (and Why Things Are Different Now) | Howard Lee | July 21, 2020 | Quanta Magazine
If they were in no danger while in the streets, they would be when parting from them—at El Nino Perdido.
The Free Lances | Mayne ReidHe found the escapados had gone out by El Nino Perdido, the sergeant on guard there allowing them to go past.
The Free Lances | Mayne ReidIt seemed strange not only to him, but all others on guard at El Nino.
The Free Lances | Mayne ReidAlmost on the instant that Lantejas presented himself in the courtyard, the cannon, El Nino, thundered forth another discharge.
The Tiger Hunter | Mayne Reid
British Dictionary definitions for El Niño
/ (ɛl ˈniːnjəʊ) /
meteorol a warming of the eastern tropical Pacific occurring every few years, which alters the weather pattern of the tropics
Origin of El Niño
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for El Niño
[ ĕl nēn′yō ]
A warming of the surface water of the eastern and central Pacific Ocean, occurring every 4 to 12 years and causing unusual global weather patterns. An El Niño is said to occur when the trade winds that usually push warm surface water westward weaken, allowing the warm water to pool as far eastward as the western coast of South America. When this happens, the typical pattern of coastal upwelling that carries nutrients from the cold depths to the ocean surface is disrupted, and fish and plankton die off in large numbers. El Niño warming is associated with the atmospheric phenomenon known as the southern oscillation, and their combined effect brings heavy rain to western South American and drought to eastern Australia and Indonesia. El Niño also affects the weather in the United States, but not as predictably. Compare La Niña.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for El Niño
[ (neen-yoh) ]
A warming of the surface water of the eastern and central Pacific Ocean, occurring every four to twelve years when cold water does not rise to the surface, causing unusual weather patterns. The warmer water kills fish and plankton, brings heavy rains to western South America, and causes drought in eastern Australia and Indonesia.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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