A climate pattern characterized by cooler than normal sea surface temperatures in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, opposite of El Niño. La Niña typically brings increased hurricane activity to the Atlantic and drought to the southwestern United States.
Spanish for 'the little girl', coined as the opposite of El Niño ('the little boy'). The term was introduced by scientists in the 1980s to describe the cool phase of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle.
La Niña acts like El Niño's mischievous sister, often causing opposite but equally dramatic weather impacts! During La Niña years, the Amazon rainforest typically gets more rain and grows faster, while Australia faces devastating floods and the southwestern US experiences severe drought.
La Niña ("the girl child" in Spanish) was named to contrast with El Niño but carries implicit secondary or opposite connotation. Gendered pairing reinforces the asymmetry where 'the boy' names the primary phenomenon and 'the girl' names its inverse.
Use 'La Niña' as established term but balance discussion of both phases as equally important climate patterns. Avoid framing one as primary/normal and the other as deviation.
["cool-phase ENSO","negative-phase oscillation","La Niña–Southern Oscillation"]
Women oceanographers and climate scientists have led understanding of cool-phase dynamics, though historical male-dominated meteorology centered warm phases first. Equal scientific weight to both patterns honors this corrected understanding.
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