Catching the infant terrible

A decrease in rainfall over the Indian Ocean may give the world the earliest signal of an impeding strong El Nio. Researchers at the University of Maryland, usa and the us National Aeronautical and Space Administration studied the 21-year global record of precipitation, reports sciencenews.com , a website for science news. The change in the rainfall over the Ocean could be the way to predict a strong El Nio, they say. But researchers also caution that they may not be able to predict weaker El Nio currents, such as the ones that occured during 1986-87 and 1991-92. La Nias, the colder component of El Nio doesn't essentially follow a change in the pattern of rainfall over the Indian Ocean.