It is pretty much undisputed fact that El Nino are related to Global weather patterns. It is not as clear. The question is whether El Nino conditions cause or are the cause of changes in weather patterns. Which comes first the weather or the El Nino? Probably the El Nino because it precedes the weather changes. What is not clear is what precedes and causes the El Nino. A great deal more needs to be understood about the ocean, its currents, its temperatures and the overall impact of the ocean on environment and temperature.
One of the core arguments central to Global Warming is whether changes in atmospheric temperatures can have a substantive impact on ocean temperatures. Water and earth are denser than air and there is a lot of water and earth. There is also a lot of air. The argument is analagous to the question, "If you light a single candle in a mineshaft and keep it lit for a year, how much will the temperature of the surrounding rock change at the end of that year? A hundred candles? A thousand candles? A million candles?"The following article from Scientific American shows the many kinds of input that are being studied to determing whether the Earth really is growing warmer.
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Research showing an El Nino event in 1918 was far stronger than previously thought is challenging the notion climate change is making El Nino episodes more intense, a U.S. scientist said on Tuesday.
El Nino causes global climate chaos such as droughts and floods. The events of 1982/83 and 1997/98 were the strongest of the 20th Century, causing loss of life and economic havoc through lost crops and damage to infrastructure.
But Ben Giese of Texas A&M University said complex computer modeling showed the 1918 El Nino event was almost as strong and occurred before there was much global warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels or widespread deforestation.
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