What's EL Nino?I know its a weather thingy but what makes an EL Nino?

Question

Where did the word derive from?

Answer 1

Very good question and appropriate for we have been experiencing an El Nino these past months. But I want to warn you that many of the answers you have received contain a lot of incorrect statements by people who have either copied info from very poor web sites or from other non-authoritative sources. The web page below is I believe very authoritative and I highly recommend it. It will give you the precise etymology of the word El Nino and the scientific explanation of its occurance. I highly recommend it over the answers you have so far received.

This is the site: http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/elnino/nino-home.html

Answer 2

What causes it?
Usually, the wind blows strongly from east to west along the equator in the Pacific. This actually piles up water (about half a meter's worth) in the western part of the Pacific. In the eastern part, deeper water (which is colder than the sun-warmed surface water) gets pulled up from below to replace the water pushed west. So, the normal situation is warm water (about 30 C) in the west, cold (about 22 C) in the east.

In an El Niño, the winds pushing that water around get weaker. As a result, some of the warm water piled up in the west slumps back down to the east, and not as much cold water gets pulled up from below. Both these tend to make the water in the eastern Pacific warmer, which is one of the hallmarks of an El Niño.

But it doesn't stop there. The warmer ocean then affects the winds--it makes the winds weaker! So if the winds get weaker, then the ocean gets warmer, which makes the winds get weaker, which makes the ocean get warmer ... this is called a positive feedback, and is what makes an El Niño grow.

El Niños happen irregularly, but if you want to impress people at cocktail parties, you might mention that we usually get one every three to seven years. Note the word "usually": sometimes they turn up more frequently, sometimes less.

El in spanish means the
Nino in spanish means child, young, childlike

El Nino is another word for Global Warming

I believe it derives from Latin

Answer 3

Warm water in the Southern regions which heats the air above the ocean and the heated air collides with the colder air above it and El Nino is the result...

Answer 4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Nino


El Niño derives from the Spanish language---it means "child" or "small boy". It was named after the Christ child, because it usually starts around Christmas.
El Nino and La Nina are the most powerful phenomenon on the earth and alter the climate across more than half the planet.

http://library.thinkquest.org/5818/elnino.html

Answer 5

El nino = naughty child ( ın Spanish )

Its not new . at 1700, some capitans reported a lot of unexpected weather types.