Southern Oscillation

noun

climatology

: a periodic seesaw fluctuation in sea-level atmospheric pressures over the southern Pacific and Indian oceans that is believed to be linked to El Niño and La Niña events compare arctic oscillation, north atlantic oscillation

Examples of Southern Oscillation in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

El Niño and La Niña are opposite phases of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, or ENSO, one of the most powerful naturally occurring climate patterns on Earth, the WMO said. — Doyle Rice, USA Today, 4 Sep. 2026

Notably, the study did not find that climate change is worsening the other half of the El Niño Southern Oscillation System — La Niña. — Los Angeles Times, 4 Sep. 2026

The two are the warm and cold swings of a single system, the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, or ENSO, and that system is the largest source of year-to-year climate variation on Earth. — Jacek Krywko, ArsTechnica, 31 Aug. 2026

El Niño and La Niña are different phases of the same system—the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a large-scale climate pattern whose oceanic and atmospheric characteristics occur in and above the east-central Pacific Ocean. — John P. Rafferty, Encyclopedia Britannica, 21 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1923, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for Southern Oscillation

• acclimatisation
• acclimatization
• acidification
• actualization
• annualization
• autocorrelation
• autoregulation
• beatification
• beneficiation
• biodegradation
• biotransformation
• bureaucratization