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The physics of El Niño

Aug 1, 1998

The past two years have witnessed the strongest El Niño this century. Indeed, the event received so much media coverage that the phrase "El Niño" is now part of our everyday vocabulary. The impact of the 1997/8 El Niño was felt in many parts of the world: floods and warm weather led to a failed anchovy season in Peru; torrential downpours and mud slides besieged southern California; droughts caused uncontrollable forest fires in Indonesia; coral in the Pacific Ocean was bleached by hotter than average water; and shipping through the Panama Canal was restricted by below-average rainfall.

So, what is El Niño? How does it disrupt normal weather patterns around the globe? And what do we know about the physics of El Niño?

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