And Del Castillo warned: What happens in the oceans doesn't stay in the oceans. El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)By now, most people have likely heard of either La Niña or El Niño, as we have just come out of three consecutive years of La Niña, and have now entered the El Niño phase. It has three phases: La Niña, El Niño and the neutral phase. For example, La Niña can bring higher rainfall to Indonesia and less rainfall to parts of the central and tropical Pacific. But once again, scientists are trying to better understand AMOC and the potential role that ocean warming and glacier melt will play in its circulation.