ENSO CYCLE

• El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Cycle - El Niño and La Niña are the warm and cold phases of the ENSO cycle - This refers to changes in oceanic and atmospheric temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific
• El Niño - Spanish term for “The Little Boy” or “Christ Child” as it was originally observed in South America where warm seawater is felt around Christmas
• • In the Philippines, El Nino starts between December and February
• La Niña - Spanish term for “The Little Girl” with sea temperatures being lower than average
• La Nina is also referred to as “El Viejo” (meaning The Old Man) or Anti-El Niño as it generally opposes the effects of El Niño
• El Niño and La Niña are predicted through the Ocean Niño Index (ONI), which is the average deviations in sea surface temperatures in the Niño region over a period of 3 months