Cataloguing the El Niño

Abstract

For the modern period, El Niño is measured through systematic observation by meteorological or oceanic instruments. Before the nineteenth century, however, systematic weather observation was almost entirely absent and alternative sources must be used, such as natural archives or references to El Niño-related phenomena in the written record. Beyond the past 500 years more generalised evidence has been gathered from fossilised microorganisms. This chapter is an important exposition in the context of this book as it helps to demonstrate how and why it is possible to state that El Niño and La Niña events occurred at various points of history, and where these data come from. This chapter thus serves as a foundation for other parts of this volume, as well as a stand-alone narrative.