History---Cause---Effects on Different Parts of the World---Case Studies of South East Asia Countries
History of El Nino
El Nino is a southerly, warm current, which flows along the coast of Peru and Ecuador. It is also called the "Christ Child" because it generally develops near Christmas.
The El Nino effect is an extension of his current to the coast of Chile and Peru, replacing the nutrient-laden cold currents. Deprived of sustenance, many organisms die, thus resulting in a red tide. This natural phenomenon kills the fishes and causes the sea birds to migrate to find food. Once every ten years or so, a current of warm water called El Nino creeps stealthily down the coasts. This effect occurs about fourteen times per century, bring rain to the dry Peruvian coasts.
El Nino is first recorded in the early 1500s, and it happens every four years at that time. It usually lasts for a few weeks, but major events lasts for a little longer than a year. Recent events occur in 1957, 1965, 1972, 1976, 1982, 1983, and 1997. A powerful El Nino in 1982 and 1983 caused severe droughts in Australia and Indonesia. On the other side of the Pacific Ocean, it brought an unusually large number of storms in California, USA. There were also violent rains and destructive floods in Ecuador and Peru.
During the occurrence of El Nino, the westward-blowing southeast trade winds over the equatorial Pacific will collapse. This collapse allows warm water from the western Pacific to surge eastward along the equator. Along the coast of Ecuador and Peru, the arrival of this warm water suppresses the upwelling nutrient-loaded cold water and disturbs the local fishery. The 1972 El Nino led to the collapse of the once-large Peruvian anchovy fishery.