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Overview of ENSO Impacts
Why do we care about ENSO impacts?Although ENSO isn't responsible for all of the variability of climate, in many regions of the world it is the most important influence on seasonal climate (that we know of) after the seasonal cycle. So, overall, the damages—in terms of loss of human life, or economic losses—as well as benefits that have been attributed to past ENSO events have been quite high.The special thing about ENSO, though, is that we can predict, to a certain extent, what effect it will have on seasonal climate a few months in advance (see Climate Prediction). If we can predict the climate conditions, then we can also anticipate what impacts they might have. And, therefore, we have the potential to reduce the damage they may cause or take advantage of good conditions that they may bring. In other words, we can use forecasts to help people in regions affected by ENSO to cope better with ENSO-related climate fluctuations. But ENSO is a complex phenomenon, and its effect on people is even more complex. So before we can respond to forecasts of El Niño or La Niña, we need to have a pretty good understanding of how they affect us. This is the subject of the next section.
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