Understanding Climate Change by Frank R. Spellman;

Author:Frank R. Spellman;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing
Published: 2021-07-22T00:00:00+00:00

El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a natural phenomenon that occurs every two to nine years on an irregular and unpredictable basis. El Niño is a warming of the surface waters in the tropical eastern Pacific that causes fish to disperse to cooler waters and, in turn, causes adult birds to fly off in search of new food sources elsewhere.

Through a complex web of events, El Niño (which means “the child” in Spanish and is named this because it usually occurs during the Christmas season off the coasts of Peru and Ecuador) can have a devastating impact on all forms of marine life.

During a normal year, equatorial trade winds pile up warm surface waters in the western Pacific. Thunderheads unleash heat and torrents of rain. This heightens the east-west temperature difference, sustaining the cycle. The jet stream blows from north Asia to California. During an El Niño–Southern Oscillation year, trade winds weaken, allowing warm waters to move east. This decreases the east-west temperature difference. The jet stream is pulled farther south than normal, picks up storms it would usually miss, and carries them to Canada or California. Warm waters eventually reach South America.

One of the first signs of its appearance is a shifting of winds along the equator in the Pacific Ocean. The normal easterly winds reverse direction and drag a large mass of warm water eastward toward the South American coastline. The large mass of warm water basically forms a barrier that prevents the upwelling of nutrient-rich cold water from the ocean bottom to the surface. As a result, the growth of microscopic algae that normally flourish in the nutrient-rich upwelling areas diminishes sharply, and that decrease has further repercussions. For example, El Niño–Southern Oscillation has been linked to patterns of subsequent droughts, floods, typhoons, and other costly weather extremes around the globe. Take a look at El Niño–Southern Oscillation’s effect on the West Coast of the United States where ENSO has been blamed for West Coast hurricanes, floods, and early snowstorms. On the positive side, ENSO typically brings good news to those who live on the East Coast of the United States: a reduction in the number and severity of hurricanes.

Note that, in addition to reducing the number and severity of hurricanes, in October 1997 the Associated Press reported that ENSO also deserves credit for invigorating plants and helping to control the pollutants linked to global warming. Researchers have found that El Niño causes a burst of plant growth throughout the world and this removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) has been increasing steadily for decades. The culprits are increased use of fossil fuels and the clearing of tropical rainforests. However, during an ENSO phenomenon, global weather is warmer; there is an increase in new plant growth and CO2 levels decrease.

Not only does ENSO have a major regional impact in the Pacific, its influence extends to other parts of the world through the interaction of pressure, air flow, and temperature effects.

El Niño–Southern Oscillation is a phenomenon

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