Concentric Circles of Influence: El Niño

In my last entry, my thought processes brought me to thinking about El Niño cycles. This is primarily because El Niño is a slightly irregular event, which means that it could be caused by the culmination of factors or a number of forces coming into alignment. After a brief discussion with a professor, I realize the best way to think about this issue is in concentric circles of cause to the event. That is to say that the initial focus on this research should be about what El Niño is, which is a meteorological event that appears to be affected by the temperature of ocean currents. After identifying the "what," the research can then move to the next ring of causes closest to the event, for instance "what causes those ocean currents?" From there research can move away from the initial event to more disparate causes. A list of these circles of influence (in rough order) might look as follows:

1. El Niño
2. Ocean currents
3. Heat transfer to the oceans
4. Global warming and melting
5. Solar events
6. Gravity wells affecting the Earth, Sun and Moon
7. Major causes of gravity
• Center of the Milky Way Galaxy, The Great Rift
• Local planets
• Local stars
8. Orbital paths
• Of planets
• Of moons
• Of the Sun
9. The resulting combinations of the above and other events