Manifestations historiques du phénomène El Niño en Amérique du Sud depuis le XVIe siècle

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A compilation of documentary data available for almost the last five centuries on climatic anomalies associated to El Niño in South America produced the reference sequence for the study of the ENSO system variability. Revisions of documentary information from Peru and Chile, as well as historical studies in northwestern Argentina and northeastern Brazil, indicate that this sequence of El Niño occurrences is less well-constrained that previously envisioned. The lack of synchronicity observed between manifestations of this phenomenon in several areas of the continent is puzzling and suggests that the teleconnection system varied through time. Actually, the reconstruction of the historical sequence of ENSO events should not yet be viewed as consolidated, and still requires a better understanding of the variability in space and time of the impacts of the phenomenon.