—2015 is an El Nino（厄尔尼诺）year．Many places may be short of wa

共用题干
EL Nino

While some forecasting methods had limited success predicting the 1997 EL Nino（厄尔尼诺现象，指赤
道东太平洋南美沿岸海水温度剧烈上升的现象。) a few months in advance , the Columbia University
researchers say their method can predict large EL Nino events up to two years in advance.That would be
good news for governments,farmers and others seeking to plan for the droughts and heavy rainfall that EL
Nino can produce in various parts of the world.
Using a computer,the researchers matched sea-surface temperatures to later EL Nino occurrences（发
生）between 1980 and 2000 and were then able to anticipate EL Nino events dating back to 1857,using prior
sea-surface temperatures.The results were reported in the latest issue of the journal Nature.
The researchers say their method is not perfect , but Bryan C. Weare , a meteorologist（气象学家）at the
University of California,Davis,who was not involved in the work,said it"suggests EL Nino is indeed
predictable".
"This will probably convince others to search around more for even better methods,"said Weare.He
added that the new method " makes it possible to predict EL Nino at long lead（提前的）times ". Other
models also use sea-surface temperatures,but they have not looked as far back because they need other data,
which is only available for recent decades,Weare said.
The ability to predict the warming and cooling of the Pacific is of immense importance.The 1997 EL
Nino , for example , caused an estimated $20 billion in damage worldwide , offset（抵消）by beneficial effects
in other areas,said David Anderson,of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts in
Reading , England. The 1877 EL Nino , meanwhile , coincided（同时发生）with a failure of the Indian monsoon
and a famine that killed perhaps 40 million in India and China,prompting the development of seasonal
forecasting,Anderson said.
When EL Nino hit in 1991 and 1997,200 million people were affected by flooding in China alone,
according to a 2002 United Nations report.
While predicting smaller EL Nino events remains tricky（复杂的）, the ability to predict larger ones
should be increased to at least a year if the new method is confirmed.
EL Nino tends to develop between April and June and reaches its peak between December and
February.The warming tends to last between 9 and 1 2 months and occurs every two to seven years.
The new forecasting method does not predict any major EL Nino events in the next two years,although a
weak warming toward the end of this year is possible.

In 1997,EL Nino caused about $20 billion in damage worldwide.
A:Right
B:Wrong
C:Not mentioned