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Page updated:
25/07/2011 |
El Niño - La Niña Effects in the Philippines |
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El Niño and La Niña are the children of the Tropics. El Niño was originally recognized by fisherman off the coast of South America as the appearance of unusually warm water in the Pacific ocean, occurring near the beginning of the year.
El Niño means The Little Boy or Christ child in Spanish. This name was used for the tendency of the phenomenon to arrive around Christmas. La Niña means The Little Girl. La Niña is sometimes called El Viejo, anti-El Niño, or simply "a cold event" or "a cold episode". |
Both effects El Niño and La Niña are very important for the climate and the weather in the Philippines.
Very simplyfied one can say: El Niño brings dry weather and even droughts La Niña stands for rainy weather and floods The Niño / Niña Meter on the left informs at a glance and is updated automatically by NOAA. |
El Niño/La Niña Southern Oscillation, or ENSO, is a quasiperiodic climate pattern that occurs across the tropical Pacific Ocean roughly every five years.
It is characterized by variations in the temperature of the surface of the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean warming or cooling known as Niño and Niña respectively and air surface pressure in the tropical western Pacific, the Southern Oscillation. |
Absolute Water Surface Temperature in the Pacific Ocean |
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 Map courtesy of NOAA. |
The map on the left side shows the development of the Pacific Ocean's surface water temperatures. The Philippines can be found on the extreme left side of the map. In the center are the islands of Hawaii and on the right side are parts of the USA, Mexico, Central America and Peru. The absolute surface temperatures are in indicator for typhoon/hurricane probability. An ocean temperature of 26.5°C (79.7°F]) spanning through a depth of at least 50 metres (160 ft) is considered the minimum to maintain the special mesocyclone that is the tropical cyclone. These warm waters are needed to maintain the warm core that fuels tropical systems. A minimum distance of 500 km (300 mi) from the equator is normally needed for tropical cyclogenesis. |
Anomalies of Water Surface Temperature in the Pacific Ocean |
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 Map courtesy of NOAA. |
Much more important for the El Niño / La Niña effects are the temperature differences of the surface waters around the equator. A difference of +/- 0.5°C (white color) is considered to be normal. A derivation to yellow and red along the equator means warmer equatorial waters = El Niño. A bluish color along the equator means colder equatorial waters = La Niña |
More Information about El Niño and La Niña |
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