El Niño / La Niña
1. Introduction
2. El Niño
3. La Niña
4. El Niño / Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Phenomenon
5. Ecological, political economy and health implications
6. El Niño predictability
7. Does El Niño have an influence on the climate in Europe?
8. The influence of the anthropogenic greenhouse effect on El Niño
3. La Niña
In contrast to El Niño, under La Niña conditions a cold water tongue develops in the east Pacific and reaches far into the west Pacific, intensifying the temperature gradient along the equator (compare with the situation in Figure 1). This results in increased precipitation over the west Pacific and parts of south-east Asia, but unusually dry conditions over the western part of South America. A La Niña event proceeds in essentially the same fashion as an El Niño, but with all processes working in the opposite direction (a cooling rather than warming, less rain rather than more, etc.).