English

Noun

super-Niño ‎(plural super-Niños)

1. An exceptionally large form of the El Niño invasion of warm water into the surface of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Peru and Ecuador every four to seven years that causes changes in local and regional climate.
   • 2002, Helaine Silverman, Ancient Nasca Settlement and Society, page 24

     Grodzicki describes the event as even greater than the one that struck Peru in 1983 with which he was familiar. This Super Niño could be the same one documented by Elera and Pinilla (1992) for the Salinar occupation at Puémape on the north coast, […] Grodzicki (1990:93) calculates that the event caused 4,200 millimeters of rain to fall within a few days.

   • 2008, Krzysztof Makowski, "Andean Urbanism", in Helaine Silverman & William H. Isbell (eds.), Handbook of South American Archaeology, page 648

     It is possible, given the context of calamities wrought by the weather (prolonged droughts and a super-Niño) and the probable political strife due to Wari expansion, that this phenomenon was a response to a crisis situation.

Related terms

• El Niño

Translations

Spanish

Etymology

From super- +‎ El Niño ‎(“ocean current”).

Noun

super-Niño m ‎(plural super-Niños)

1. super-Niño
   • 2000, Los investigadores de la cultura maya 8, page 253

     Precisamente hacia 1,100 a 1,200 dC, ocurrió al parecer un super-Niño en las costas del Perú […]

     Precisely about 1,100 to 1,200 A.D., there occurred a super-Niño on the coasts of Peru […]

   • 2006, José A. Salaverry, Macro-ecología de los Andes peruanos, page 148

     En dichos trabajos el entasis recae en los denominados 'Mega-Niño' y 'Super-Niño' que en el pasado han producido cambios geomorfológicos y/o ambientales afectando, local o regíonalmente, el medio ambiente y el «normal» desarrollo de las poblaciones y culturas en el «mundo» andino peruano.