El Niño and La Niña quiz

More questions about El Niño and La Niña

These visible examples show the question style. LearnClash turns the full topic into ranked duels and spaced repetition.

1. 1 Easy

   How long did La Niña last, with short breaks, from 2020?

   Answer: Three years

   Why: Over those three years East Africa and Patagonia ran drier than usual, while northern South America ran wetter.

2. 2 Medium

   What blanketed Southeast Asia during the 1997 El Niño?

   Answer: Smoke haze

   Why: Satellite images showed the haze layer spreading over more than 3 million square kilometres.

3. 3 Hard

   What do El Niño winds slow by a fraction of a millisecond a day?

   Answer: Earth's rotation

   Why: When El Niño's winds gain spin, the solid Earth loses the same amount, because the planet's total angular momentum is conserved.

4. 4 Easy

   How many phases does the ENSO cycle have?

   Answer: Three

   Why: Between the two extremes sits ENSO-neutral, when tropical Pacific sea temperatures stay close to average.

5. 5 Medium

   Where does warm Pacific water normally pile up between El Niños?

   Answer: Near Indonesia

   Why: That piled-up water makes the sea surface stand about half a metre higher at Indonesia than at Ecuador.

6. 6 Hard

   Which volcano's haze hid the 1982 El Niño from satellites?

   Answer: El Chichón

   Why: Satellite analyses showed a near-normal Pacific for much of 1982, while the strongest El Niño in over a century was building.