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People have noticed that when the
Pacific Ocean is unusually warm near the beginning of
the year, certain things are more likely to happen.
Peruvian fishing boat crews know it's probably going
to be a bad year for catching anchovies. Seventeen million
seabirds on Kiritimati (Christmas) Island in the mid-Pacific
may abandon their nests. Heavy rainfall may strike the
normally arid coasts of Ecuador and Peru. Parts of Africa,
Australia, and the central United States may suffer
droughts. These events are linked to a Pacific Ocean
phenomenon known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation
(ENSO).
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