El Niño Southern Oscillation - ENSO

: Credits Cnes/ Mira Productions

Better knowledge of ocean circulation is enabling us to better understand and predict climate, especially natural catastrophes such as El Niño. This phenomenon, caused by anomalous warm water arrivals on the coast of Peru, brings severe weather patterns, such as drought, flooding, and cyclones. It is now possible to predict El Niño from ocean data.

What is El Niño/La Niña ?: Explanation of the phenomenon : normal pattern, when El Niño awakens and La Niña pattern.
Chronology: Altimetric satellites have continuously tracked related ocean-climate changes in the Pacific Ocean, such as warm El Niño (1992, 1994, 1997, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2009) and cold La Niña episodes (1995,1996,1998,1999 and 2007).
Forecasting El Niño: Since the 1990s, an in situ observation system has been set up in the Pacific and new satellites have continuously scanned the global ocean. Though we cannot avoid El Niño's whims, we can predict and mitigate its impacts.
Impacts around the world: Warm El Niños and cold La Niñas follow each other against the backdrop of the ocean seasons. These surface temperature and sea level anomalies in the intertropical Pacific affect climate worldwide.

Further information :

Applications, Oceans : El Niño is behind rise in sea level.
Dossier : Watching for El Niño, pdf (3.1 Mo).
Poster : Keeping on eye on El Niño (pdf, 561 Ko).
Radar Altimetry Tutorial, Data Use Case applied to El Niño : Monitoring El Niño : Rossby and Kelvin waves.