El Niño and La Niña: What you need to know
EL NIÑO VS. LA NIÑA. These two photos show the difference between the changes in climate. (Photo 1 by Vic Alhambra of Philippine Star, Photo 2 by Nonie Reyes of World Bank.)
You may have heard these two words being constantly used in weather reports, but do you know that they are two very different things? Read on now to learn about what these two are all about, and why you should know about these two things.
El Niño vs. La Niña
El Niño and La Niña are two terms used for changes in global climate system. Simply put, both terms are total opposite. These two climate cycles are both parts of an oscillation in the ocean-atmosphere system which is called the El Niño-Southern Oscillation or the ENSO cycle.
El Niño
According to gov.ph, El Niño is the “unusual warming in the Central and Eastern Equatorial Pacific.” Occurring in the Pacific basin every 2 to 9 years, it usually starts between December to February. When the temperature reaches 0.5˚C or higher for at least “5 consecutive overlapping 3-month seasons,” that is when El Niño is known to take place.
In the Philippines, several factors determine when El Niño arrives. This includes the delayed start of the rainy season, early termination of the rainy season, and weak monsoon and tropical cyclone activity such as fewer tropical cyclones entering the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR).
What you should also know about El Niño is that it severely affects the agricultural sector and both water, food, and power supply in the country. It can bring massive drought to the country which is why early warning is always reported to help concerned sectors to prepare about this event. Other effects of this event are reduced rainfall, stronger typhoons, and high risk of forest and grass fires.
La Niña
On the other hand, La Niña is in the contrary. According to NASA, it is the “build up of cool waters in the equatorial Eastern Pacific.” Its effects are opposite to El Niño. Frequently, La Niña follows after El Niño.
La Niña usually brings heavy rains that trigger floods and landslides, but it can also bring in benefits to the country such as the possibility to grow crops in mountainous areas and those areas that are unreachable by irrigation. These disastrous events of floods and landslides are brought by above normal rainfall, strong monsoon activity, and formation of more tropical cyclones.
Another important thing that you should know is that the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the US National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration are the two agencies where the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) weather bureau gets information.
Now that you have learned about these two weather events, share it to your family and friends to let them know about this important knowledge!
Source: gov.ph; Rappler;NASA Earth Observatory
