Washington, July 18 - A high in solar activity impacts the earth in a way that resembles the devastating El Nino, releasing more energy than a million Hiroshima bombs, according to a new study.

The study shows that as the sun reaches maximum activity, it heats cloud-free parts of the Pacific Ocean enough to increase evaporation, intensify tropical rainfall and the trade winds, and cool the eastern tropical Pacific.

The giant El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) of 1997-98, rising out of the tropical Pacific Ocean, 'deranged weather patterns around the world, killed an estimated 2,100 people, and caused at least $33 billion in property damage,' wrote Curt Suplee in the National Geographic magazine.

The study may pave the way toward predictions of temperature and rainfall patterns at certain times during the approximately 11-year solar cycle.

'These results point to a scientifically feasible series of events that link the 11-year solar cycle with ENSO, the tropical Pacific phenomenon that so strongly influences climate variability around the world,' says Jay Fein, programme director in National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Atmospheric Sciences.

'The next step is to confirm or dispute these intriguing model results with observational data analyses and targeted new observations,' he adds.