1996: Oceanography

Archives consist of articles that originally appeared in Collier's Year Book (for events of 1997 and earlier) or as monthly updates in Encarta Yearbook (for events of 1998 and later). Because they were published shortly after events occurred, they reflect the information available at that time. Cross references refer to Archive articles of the same year.

According to a study published in 1996, ElNiños an El Niño is a quasi-periodic sudden warming of surface waters in the equatorial Pacific and along the South American Pacific coast apparently first appeared in that region relatively recently, about 5,000 years ago. Previous research had not been... ...