What is El Nino
El Nino has been a reoccurring phenomenon for centuries. What exactly is El Nino? "The term El Nino refers to a massive warming off the coastal waters of Peru and Equador that frequently extends more than 90 degrees of longitude. It is related to the Southern Oscillation, the atmospheric component of this phenomenon..." (Gottschalk, 1998). Because El Nino and Southern Oscillation are often coupled, the term ENSO is used. (Garrison, 1999) This event usually last up to a year but can last up to three years. El Nino occurs every several years. The areas that are most affected by this event are all ocean areas at tradewind latitudes in both hemispheres. (Garrison, 1999) El Nino has been linked to flood and droughts all over the world. El Nino causes significant changes in biology and weather when it occurs. During an El Nino cycle there are many biological changes. During an El Nino thermocline is low and therefore there is less photosynthetic activity following in a decrease in the primary life forms. The warmer waters that are brought by El Nino hold less oxygen demanding the fish to go somewhere else. (Cook 1998) "Although upwelling may occur during an ENSO event, the source of upwelled water is nutrient-depleted wate
According to Garrison(1999), the contrasting colder events that occur are known as La Nina. As conditions to the east cool off, the ocean to the west warm rapidly. The renewed thrust of the trade winds piles this water upon itself, depressing the upper curve of the thermocline too more than 100 meters deep. According to Whipple (1998), weather from El Nino and La Nina are not symmetrical. Scientists have only recently recognized La Nina events. Since World War II there have been only one La Nina for every three El Ninos. 2. Gottschalk, M. A. (1998). Engineers help unlock El Nino's secrets. Design News, v 53 no 8, 35-6. The surface winds that move the ocean currents are a major controller in weather. During El Nino when the easterlies weaken and retract eastward during the early stages, the upwelling slows and the ocean warms along with the moist air above the ocean. The change in the ocean temperatures causes a major rain section over the western Pacific to move eastward. In this way small changes in the ocean and wind currents continue to magnify each other until a full-blown El Nino occurs. " The increased evaporation intensifies coastal storms, and rainfall inland may be much higher than normal"(Garrison, 1999). The impacts of El Nino upon climate in temperature show up most during wintertime. Most El Nino winters are not that cold over western Canada and parts over the United States, and wet over the Southern United States and from Texas to Florida. (Whipple, 1998) United States will benefit in the strategic planning in areas such as agriculture, the management of water resources and the reserves of grain and fuel oil. Scientists and governments are working together to design and build a global system for predicting El Nino and other irregular climates. Governments should make climate predictions available daily like they make weather forecasts available to the public today. The ability to prepare how climate will change leads to better management of agriculture, water supplies, fisheries and other resources. By doing all these things people are going to become better adept to all irregul
Some common words found in the essay are:
El Nino, Southeast Alabama, el nino, El Nino's, La Nina, Nino Earliest, Galapagos Islands, Equador Peru, Oceanic Administration, Japan United, System EOSDIS, helvarg 1998, la nina, 1998 el nino, garrison 1999, gottschalk 1998, 1998 el, el nino's, whipple 1998, sea surface, nino occurs, el nino occurs, sea surface temperatures, phenomenon gottschalk 1998, predict el nino,
Approximate Word count = 1437
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
