The effect and destruction of El Nino in the past year has been astronomical. Nineteen ninety-eight has not been a good year in the way of climate change. The western seaboard is the most drastic example of what has happened to our economy, environment, and energy resources. The concentration of this page will strive to explain El Nino and its environmental effects of the past.
There are two types of climate change that happen in our atmosphere in cyclical events. The cycle begins with El Nino and then relatively " normal climate" to La Nino. The severity of the El Nino in 1998 is much worse than the predicted outcome. As shown in the coming animation of four events of El Nino.

El Niño Years:
 

These are the years in which El Nino has occurred. The years that are not included have either  normal weather conditions or La Nino.

1902-1903    1905-1906    1911-1912    1914-1915

1918-1919    1923-1924    1925-1926    1930-1931

1932-1933    1939-1940    1941-1942    1951-1952

1953-1954    1957-1958    1965-1966    1969-1970

1972-1973    1976-1977    1982-1983    1986-1987

1991-1992    1994-1995    1997-1998

 
Although many people know about El Nino, not many people are familiar with the term Southern Oscillation. Scientists believe that this phenomenon has a great effect of the current implications of El Nino.
 

Normal Conditions  El Niño conditions

Explanation of Diagram:      El Nino occurs due to changes in the normal patterns of trade wind circulation. Normally, these winds move westward, carrying warm surface water to Indonesia and Australia and allowing cooler water to upwell along the South American coast. For reasons not yet fully understood, these trade winds can sometimes be reduced, or even reversed. This moves warmer waters toward the coast of South America and raises water temperatures.       Warmer water causes heat and moisture to rise from the ocean off Ecuador and Peru, resulting in more frequent storms and torrential rainfall over these normally arid countries. Air circulation at 5 km high in the atmosphere is altered during El Niño and   La Niña years. During El Niño winters, the jet stream over the North Pacific is likely to split on its approach to North America. A weaker branch would be diverted northward into the Northwest Territories while the lower subtropical branch (whose mean position is over the Pacific Northwest/southwestern Canada) would be shifted several degrees of latitude southward. The southern Canadian region lies in between the two jets and receives a milder and drier-than-normal winter.        These cells that you can see on the right diagram are not as unusual as you may believe. This kind of air movement is common at the equator. These cells are commonly called Hadley Cells which will reach up into the atmosphere to incredible heights. The same cyclical pattern is seen with two air masses diverging after ascending into the atmosphere.

Animated Comparison of Four El Nino Events.   Sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial pacific.                                                    Refresh/reload page to restart animation (.gif)  This animation shows the differences between four different El Nino occurrences in the last few years. By looking at the chart above you can see the actual recorded occurrences of all of the El Ninos in the past. If you pay close attention to the current quarter, slide of 1998. This shows the major difference between the mildness of past years and the severity of 1998. Although not much worse than 1983. The warming of the water moves progressively westward and then regresses in the summer to the east and the African coast.

    Due to all of the hype about El Nino this year the overwhelming panic has insued about the weather conditions in the future. Yes, this year has had some major changes in the weather, but that has been the case in the past also. As for Canada, we have had a good growing season so far and the weather has been warmer.  :)   But the United States, Mexico, and some Caribbean countries have faired the worst. They have indured floods, earthflows, and increase in temperature. The world has endured other forces of nature and it should indure the confruntation with this one.
 

Definitions:

La Nino - In contrast to El Niño, La Niña (female child) refers to an anomaly of unusually cold sea surface temperatures found in the eastern tropical Pacific. La Niña occurs roughly half as often as El Niño.
 
El Niño -(Spanish name for the male child),a warm current of water, initially referred to a weak, warm current appearing annually around Christmas time along the coast of Ecuador and Peru and lasting only a few weeks to a month or more. Every  three to seven years, an El Niño event may last for many months, having  significant economic and atmospheric consequences worldwide. During the past forty years, ten of these major El Niño events have been recorded, the worst of which began in 1997. Previous to this, the El Niño event in 1982-1983 was the strongest.

Southern Oscillation - (ENSO) this is another term for El Nino (Did you know that?). Scientists use this term to explain the existence of El Nino better. Since it is located normally in the southern portions of the world. Oscillation is defined as the upward and downward movement of air due to imposing factors.  Somewhat like the movement of a wave.
 
Divergence - Is the movement of two air masses away from each other after colliding to produce a effect such as El Nino or a tornado.

Hadley Cells - is the circular upward and downward movement of air at the equator.

Man may have role in severe El Nino Weather Pattern http://www.yahoo.com/headlines/971121/teen/stories/environment_1.html

El Nino from Environment Canada graphic
http://www.tor.ec.gc.ca/elnino/english/elnino_whatis.html

Environment Canada-Comparitive graph
http://www.tor.ec.gc.ca/elnino/english/elnino_occurrences.html

Environment Canada-general address
http://www.tor.ec.gc.ca/elnino/

Paper-El Nino: The Weathermaker
http://www.gallaudet.edu/~essweb/proj295/kr/elnino.html

El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
http://nic.fb4.noaa.gov:80/products/analysis_monitoring/ensostuff/index.html

Explanation of ENSO
http://sevilleta.unm.edu/~bmilne/bio576/instr/html/res13131/ensomain.html

El Nino and Flooding
http://www.coaps.fsu.edu/lib/elninobib/enso-floods/

Paper on El Nino and its effects
http://wumassd.edu/Public/Peopleww./Kamaral/thesis/ElNino.html

Climate Prediction Center
http://nic.fb4.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/index.html