An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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La Niña. A condition in which a significant decrease (more than 0.5 °C from average water temperatures) occurs in sea surface temperature (cold event) in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific. La Niña has a natural 3-6 year cycle and can persist for 1-3 years. It is the counterpart to the → El Nino (warm event), and its spatial and temporal evolution in the equatorial Pacific is, to a considerable extent, the mirror image of El Niño, although La Niña events tend to be somewhat less regular in their behavior and duration.

American Sp. La Niña "the girl," to distinguish it from → El Nino.