EL Nino~
- Introduction
- What is El Nino~?
- What effects does El Nino~ have?

El Nino~

Every few years an event takes place off the western coast off the western coast of South America that has a dramatic effect on the world's weather. This event is known as El Nino~, which as Spanish for "The Boy CHild", meaning Jesus, because it is often first noticed around Christmas.

What is El Nino~?

Normally, there is an area of low pressure over the western Pacific, where warm surface water heats the air above it. As the warm moist air rises, more air is dragged across the Pacific and sucked in sea- level. These strong air currents are the Trade winds. As they blow blow across the ocean they pull the surface water away from the coast of South America towards the centre of the Pacific. COlder water that is rich in nutrients wells up from deep in the ocean to replace it.

When El Nino~ occurs, the area of low pressure moves across into the centre of the Pacific Oecan, closer to South America. The Trade winds become weaker, the surface water is no longer dragged across the Pacific and the cold water almost stops rising from the ocean depths. The change in the flow of air across ocean alters the direction of the jet stream, a narrow belt of strong winds high in the atmosphere. This brings stormy weather to areas far from the Pacific.

What effects does El Nino~ have?

By altering the position of air currents carrying moisture, El Nino~ can bring floods to some areas and droughts to others. The El Nino~ that occurred in 1982- 3 was one of the strongest on record - some scientists think its after- effects can still be detected in the oceans. There were droughts and dust storms in Africa and Australia, while areas of Peru that normally receive only 250 mm of rain in a year were hit by 2 m of rain instead. El Nino~ is also thought to affect the way hurricanes develop and move across the Atlantic Ocean. >> Parts of Kenya received unusually heavy rains in 1998. Many people believed that El Nino~ was responsible for disrupting normal weather patterns.

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