SSC
'El Nino', the warm ocean current that affects the Indian monsoon, is a Spanish term meaning:
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Answer: Option B — The Christ child
Detailed Solution
"El Nino" is a Spanish term meaning "the little boy" or "the Christ child". The name was given by fishermen of Peru and Ecuador, who noticed that a warm ocean current appeared off their coast around Christmas in some years.
El Nino is the abnormal warming of the surface waters of the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Peru and Ecuador, which occurs every two to seven years. Normally, strong trade winds blow from east to west across the Pacific, pushing warm surface water towards Indonesia and Australia, while cold, nutrient-rich water rises along the coast of South America (the cold Peru or Humboldt current), supporting rich fisheries. During El Nino, the trade winds weaken, and warm water spreads east towards South America. This reduces the upwelling of cold water, hurts fisheries in Peru, and changes rainfall patterns around the world, causing heavy rain and floods in South America and droughts in Australia, Indonesia and southern Africa.
El Nino is closely linked with the Southern Oscillation, a see-saw in air pressure between the eastern Pacific (Tahiti) and the western Pacific and Indian Ocean (Darwin, Australia). Together, they are called ENSO (El Nino-Southern Oscillation).
El Nino years are often associated with a weak or deficient monsoon and droughts in India, because the warm Pacific waters shift the regions of rising air and rainfall away from the Indian subcontinent. However, not every El Nino year brings drought. Another factor, the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), can also strengthen or weaken the monsoon.
The opposite condition, when the eastern Pacific becomes cooler than normal, is called La Nina, meaning "the little girl". La Nina is often associated with a good monsoon in India.
Why not the other options?
- ✗The little girl is the meaning of La Nina, the opposite phenomenon.
- ✗The warm wind is not the meaning of El Nino.
- ✗The cold current is incorrect; El Nino is a warm current.
Quick tip
Remember: El Nino = "the little boy" (Christ child), warming of the eastern Pacific, weak Indian monsoon; La Nina = "the little girl", cooling, good monsoon; ENSO = El Nino-Southern Oscillation.
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Atmosphere, Weather & Climate — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Atmosphere, Weather & Climate, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers the composition and layers of the atmosphere, insolation and temperature, atmospheric pressure and the planetary winds, local winds, humidity, clouds and rainfall, cyclones and anticyclones, and the climatic regions of the world. Exam questions often test the layers of the atmosphere in order (troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere), the ozone layer in the stratosphere, and local winds such as the Loo (India), Chinook (North America) and Foehn (Alps). Learn the names given to tropical cyclones in different regions: hurricanes, typhoons and willy-willies. Practise the atmosphere, weather and climate questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.