What Is El Nino?

WHAT IS EL NINO?
-The term El Niño (Spanish for ‘the Christ Child’) refers to a
warming of the ocean surface, or above-average sea surface
temperatures, in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.
• El Niño was recognized by fishers off the coast of Peru as the
appearance of unusually warm water. We have no real record
of what indigenous Peruvians called the phenomenon, but
Spanish immigrants called it El Niño, meaning “the little boy”
in Spanish. When capitalized, El Niño means the Christ Child,
and was used because the phenomenon often arrived around
Christmas. El Niño soon came to describe irregular and
intense climate changes rather than just the warming of
coastal surface waters.
• Led by the work of Sir Gilbert Walker in the 1930s,
climatologists determined that El Niño occurs
simultaneously with the Southern Oscillation. The
Southern Oscillation is a change in air pressure over the
tropical Pacific Ocean. When coastal waters become
warmer in the eastern tropical Pacific (El Niño), the
atmospheric pressure above the ocean decreases.
Climatologists define these linked phenomena as El Niño-
Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Today, most scientists use
the terms El Niño and ENSO interchangeably.
• Scientists use the Oceanic Nino Index (ONI) to measure
deviations from normal sea-surface temperatures. El
Niño events are indicated by sea surface temperature
increases of more than 0.9° Fahrenheit for at least five
successive three-month seasons. The intensity of El
Niño events varies from weak temperature increases
(about 4–5° F) with only moderate local effects on
weather and climate to very strong increases (14–18° F)
associated with worldwide climatic changes.
THE IMPACT OF EL NIÑO
-El Niño has an impact on ocean temperatures, the speed and
strength of ocean currents, the health of coastal fisheries, and
local weather from Australia to South America and beyond. El
Niño events occur irregularly at two- to seven-year intervals.
However, El Niño is not a regular cycle, or predictable in the
sense that ocean tides are.
•El Niño is a climate pattern that describes the unusual
warming of surface waters in the eastern tropical Pacific
Ocean. El Niño is the “warm phase” of a larger
phenomenon called the El Niño-Southern Oscillation
(ENSO).
• El Niño events are defined by their wide-ranging teleconnections.
Teleconnections are large-scale, long-lasting climate anomalies or
patterns that are related to each other and can affect much of the
globe. During an El Niño event, westward-blowing trade winds
weaken along the Equator. These changes in air pressure and wind
speed cause warm surface water to move eastward along the
Equator, from the western Pacific to the coast of northern South
America
• El Niño also produces widespread and sometimes
severe changes in the climate. Convection above
warmer surface waters bring increased precipitation.
Rainfall increases drastically in Ecuador and
northern Peru, contributing to coastal flooding and
erosion. Rains and floods may destroy homes,
schools, hospitals, and businesses. They also limit
transportation and destroy crops. As El Niño brings
rain to South America, it brings droughts to
Indonesia and Australia. These droughts threaten the
region’s water supplies, as reservoirs dry and rivers
carry less water. Agriculture, which depends on
water for irrigation, is threatened.
CAUSE AND EFFECTS
CAUSE -cause by the warming
of sea surface temperature in the
pacific and can affect air and sea
currents -warm water builds up
along the equator in the eastern
pacific
EFFECTS -increased chance of
drier conditions -drier and warmer
temperatures over all, with notable
extreme cold spells
HEALTH EFFECTS · Diseases related to water scarcity
or shortage such as diarrhea and skin diseases · Red
Tide Blooms : Paralytic shellfish poisoning ·
Disorders associated with high temperatures: heat
cramps, heat exhaustion, exertional heat injury and
heat stroke
WHAT TO DO? · Conserve water and use it wisely. · Protect water
sources from contamination. · Drink more fluids. · Listen to the updates
on shellfish ban. · Wear light clothing. · Avoid strenuous physical
activity.

What Is El Nino?

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