Explain El Nino and the La Nina weather phenomenon.

Explain El Nino and the La Nina weather phenomenon

Walker Circulation

In a normal year the South East trade winds from the global circulation, blow from East to West creating the following conditions:

Warm surface waters from the Pacific are blown Westwards, creating warm water near Australasia. The warm water heats the air in the Western Pacific this intern creates thunderstorms and convection activity. In the Eastern Pacific the removal of warm surface water, which has been blown westward allows cooler water to rise. Cool upwelling water near Peru creates higher air pressures on the coast of Peru, re-enforcing the trade wind circulation. The upwelling water is high in nutrients meaning that fish are plentiful. Therefore helping the local fishing industries. The high pressure caused by the trade winds means that the sea levels in Australasia are about half a metre higher than Peru and sea temperatures 8c higher than Peru. After this point the air sinks, completing the Walker loop.

El Nino general effects

El Nino is a warm southward current that occurs in the Pacific off the coast of Peru.

A large El Nino can cause global scale disruption to weather conditions. They generally occur every four years, but their intensity cannot be predicted.

The warm water in the Western Pacific slides back eastwards across the Ocean. As the warm water arrives at the coast of Peru convectional rainfall occurs. The low pressure resulting from the arrival of warm waters causes the winds to change direction and blow from West to East, therefore increasing the El Nino effect.

The low amounts of upwelling water off the coast of Peru causes their to be a decline in fish due to the lack of nutrients.

Descending air in the Western Pacific compensates for rising convectional air near Peru. High pressure increases near Australasia causing droughts.

La Nina general effects

Generally when El Nino ceases, another weather condition develops. La Nina causes large amounts of warm water to shift westwards, this causes flooding in Australasia because of the increased rainfall and droughts in Peru / South America.

In April/May 2000 desert areas surrounding Lake Eyre in Australia flooded during La Nina creating an inland sea. La Nina was also responsible for heavy flooding in South Africa that year.

Case Studies

Peru

January 1998 all across Peru, El Nino caused extreme flooding, causing an estimated 700 billion in damage.

15,000 houses were flooded with 5000 destroyed. The homes which were destroyed were mainly owned by the poor population.

Mud slides were a problem, this was caused because of the houses which were built of sundried brick for desert conditions, collapsed in the flooding creating mud flows a foot deep.

Papua New Guinea

El Nino caused one of the worst droughts ever recorded in Papua New Guinea, usually the area receives 3000-4000mm of rainfall per year, however in 1997 most areas received no rainfall at all.

This caused flash fires and severe forest fires, this caused forest resources and crops to be destroyed therefore affecting the economy. Also the low river water levels meant that copper exporting was disrupted because ships were unable to use the river.

Famine was widespread, this meant that the Country required temporary food aid.

Eastern Kenya

Flooding occurred in Eastern Kenya, caused by the El Nino effect. It took place in January which is usually the dry season.

Flooding affected such a wide area, banana, coconut and mango trees were completely destroyed by the force of the flood water. This caused inflated prices, up to 50%.

Villages were completely destroyed, and basic food supplies were low, most areas were only reachable by air. International Aid provided shelters, clothing and food.

Disease was widespread, cholera was the main problem as sewage rose to the surface of the flood waters. Also malaria became an epidemic because of the huge areas of swamp, so mosquito nets were an essential item of aid.

The main problem with El Nino is that it mainly affects Countries around the Pacific, which are generally some of the poorest Countries.