In today’s society the weather phenomenon known as, El Nino, is often misunderstood. Even worse a significant portion of the world does not even know what is. The common man would most likely not be able to tell you whether or not it is environmental phenomenon or simply something you order at Taco Bell. If we cannot accurately define the effects of El Nino it is impossible for us to conclude on whether or not it is something we should be concerned about. Understanding how and why it takes place will give us a much greater understanding of the extent of its global impact.
El Niño is a natural occurrence that has been happening for as long as humans have recorded history. For hundreds of years, around Christmas time, fishermen noticed an uncharacteristically warm current emerge. The Peruvians coined what they saw to be an inexplicable occurrence as “El Nino” which translates to “the little boy” in Spanish. Due to the fact that the effects would generally transpire around Christmas the name is referencing the birth of Jesus Christ.
The disruption of the ocean-atmosphere system in the Tropical Pacific which causes severe repercussions for weather and climate across the world is what brought about the warm currents seen by the fisherman. The Pacific Ocean’s climate is briefly modified around the equatorial region. The expression is used to portray exceptionally intense and persistent occurrences. An El Nino will happen about every three to seven years and its intense conditions will impact climate for at the minimum one year.
Unlike the South American fisherman of the past, in this day and age, science can tell us what circumstances lead to events such as the El Nino to occur. Usually, the wind blows strongly from east to west alon...
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...[Online] Available http://www.mb.ec.gc.ca/Nino/Overview.html, March 26, 1998. Hjfree@ios.bc.ca. Brief Notes On Biological Effects. http://www.ios.bc.ca/ios/sos/elnino/biol.htm, March 26, 1998 Glossary of Terms. [Online] Available http://www.dir.ucar.edu/esig/elnino/glossary.html, March 26, 1998. Kessler, Brian. Not So Frequently Asked Questions about El Nino [Online] Available http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elnino/resources/elninofaq.html, March 26, 1998. Monastersky, R. "The Loitering El Nino: Greenhouse Guest?" Science News. 27 January 1998: 54. Simon, Tamar. El Nino Threatens on the Horizon. [Online] Available http://www.exn.net/news/0.cfm?ThisStory=19970529-03.html Svitil, Kathy A "They Saw It Coming." Discover. January 1998: 82-83. Warm Water, Cold Water and El Nino. [Online] Available http://broadcast.webpoint.com/kwgn/elnino/elnino_upwellings.htm, March 26 1998.
James. R. (1989). El Nino and La Nina. El Nino, La Nina and the Southern Oscillation, (46), 12-13.
The issue of climate change is approaching the world at a quick pace, its impacts seen in various forms, “more extreme weather events,
An El Niño is a temporary change in the climate of the Pacific Ocean, in the region around the equator. An El Nino occurs when the winds that usually push water around get weaker. When this happens, the warm water piles up and not as much cold water gets pulled up from below. In doing this it provides the El Nino with its trademark, which is increasing the ocean temperature, a few degrees. The difference between an El Nino and a La Nina is just about everything. The La Nina is everything an El Nino is but reversed. Instead of warming taking place in the central and eastern Tropical Pacific cooling takes place. This is caused by instead of the trade winds blowing softer they blow harder cooling down the
EL Nino also “affects” wind shear, which is when air currents at a lower altitude blow in a different direction from winds higher in the atmosphere. On the other hand La Nina is the positive phase of the El Nino southern Oscillation and is associated with cooler- than average sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical pacific ocean. El Nino is like La Niña brother, El Nino as the warm phrase and La Nina as the cold phrase. During an El Niño event, the relationship between winds and ocean currents in the Pacific Ocean changes, modifying weather conditions around the world.It is possible that WFP will be stretched operationally and financially during 2016 when the impacts of the El Niño event translate into increased food assistance needs across most of our areas of operation. Oscillations occur naturally in oceans all across the world; some have a limited impact on the regional weather and wider climate, and some have a much greater impact (4). El Niño and La Niña are examples of oscillations that have a greater impact on our climate with effects that are perhaps surprisingly felt all over the globe (5).
The Earth has been experiencing a warming period for the past 30 years indicating that a cooling period is about to occur. There are several factors that contribute to climate change including a rise in the temperature such as the Earth’s tilt, tectonic plate changes and volcanic activity. A shi...
There is a lot going with Earth, it is constantly changing through climate change. Climate change is a global or regional change in climate patterns. It consists of changes in temperature, precipitation, humidity, winds, and seasons. The climate plays a fundamental role in shaping the economy, cultures, and Earth’s ecosystem. The climate is taking a hit due to global warming. Global warming is a bundle of carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane that builds up heat in the atmosphere. As years gone by, global warming gradually began heating the Earth 's surface, ocean, and atmosphere. Although global warming is a problem not taken seriously or being known, people should be aware of the affects of global warming, how it is seen affecting the
"Ocean Events." GRACE â Uncovering the 2010-11 Decline in Global Mean Sea Level and Its Relation to ENSO (October, 2012). N.p., 8 Oct. 2012. Web. 2 Mar. 2014.
There are many causes and consequences of climate change discussed throughout this Encyclical. One of the most important would be the extreme weather. “In recent decades this warming has been accompanied by a constant rise in the sea level and, it would appear, by an increase of extreme weather events, even if a scientifically determined cause
Climate change has become of the world’s major issue today. The earth’s climate is always changing in a very fast and also in different ways. Climate changes affect our lives psychologically, emotional and also physically. Climate change is defined as a long term change in the earth’s climate, especially a change due to the increase in the average atmospheric temperatures. Due to this change in temperature, a lot of changes has occurred in our environment, these changes include rising sea levels, flooding, melting of polar ice caps, hotter days, colder nights and heat waves. These climate changes plays an important role in shaping our natural ecosystem, our human economics and also the most important, it affects the human race. For
Four NOMAD buoys across the North Atlantic registered a 13-degree drop in SST. And soon a series of extreme weather happened in front of my eyes: hurricanes, snow storms, and even cyclones that rapidly pulled cool air from the upper troposphere which made people freeze instantly. Those were the scenes I saw from The Day after Tomorrow, the film that inspired my curiosity in atmospheric sciences in my seventh grade. Although shocked by the catastrophe caused by global warming in the film, I couldn't help take an eager interest in how freshwater from melted polar ice caps brought a shift in the North Atlantic Current, and how the shifted current brought a change in the earth’s climate. Later, as I gathered more information about the climate, I became fascinated by the physical and dynamical mechanisms explaining atmospheric phenomenon. And after three years of undergraduate study of atmospheric sciences, beyond the starting point of fascination, I have taken concrete steps forward with my hard work, independence, and creativity.
As defined by the Oxford dictionary, climate change is, “a change in global or regional climate patterns, in particular a change apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels.” (Oxford Dictionaries) Moreover, evidence of climate change can be found all over the world, and in many different forms, but is especially prevalent in certain regions. For instance, in Southeast Asia, specifically the nation of the Philippines, signs of climate change can be observed frequently, if not regularly. One major ...
During El Niño?s in the Pacific Northwest, the amount of precipitation greatly decreases, the winter temperatures get milder, and winter has below-average precipitation. Some economical and environmental impacts are that erosion is increasing due to severe storm surges, concerns that property built on low-lying areas or on top of unstable bluffs possibly be flooded or threatened by landslides due to regional climate changes, and various salmon species potentially endangered. In California, during El Nino?s they get extreme precipitation and snowfalls. Economical and environmental impacts are heavy precipitation, damage from debris flows or mudslides, and floods from the rain. El Nino seasons in Peru bring so much rainfall that there is now a lake made from the rain, compared to the desert it once was. Several economical and environmental impacts from El Nino include massive floods or mudslides, and since Peru lives in a cold-water zone, it carries many fish that are caught and sold commercially, but during El Nino, a layer of warm water covers the nutrient-rich east coast waters, abruptly stopping the upwelling and the nutrients fail to come up.
Solomon, S. (Ed.). (2007). Climate change 2007-the physical science basis: Working group I contribution to the fourth assessment report of the IPCC (Vol. 4, pg 501). Cambridge University Press.
According to the Canada’s Action on Climate Change, Climate change is a long-term shift in weather conditions identified by changes in temperature, precipitation, winds, and other indicators. Climate change can involve both changes in average conditions and changes in variability, including, for example, extreme events. Climate change is one of the biggest crisis in the earth. It will cause a huge damage to the eco-system and human. We are the victims of the climate change. However, we are the one who cause the climate change.