Wednesday 11 June 2014

El Nino And Global Warming A Lethal Combination

El Nino is a giant swell of abnormally warm water in the Pacific Ocean develops and sets off a chain reaction of weather events around the world and this year the weather scientists are predicting 2014 to be a major El Nino year with the consequences, and benefits that it brings.
The European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) have predicted with 90% certainty that El NiƱo is on its way and its going to be big.
'The amount of warm water in the Pacific is now significant, perhaps the biggest since the 1997-98 event' said Tim Stockdale, principal scientist at ECMWF, referring to the last full EL Nino year that produced the hottest year on record at the time and major global impacts.
India is expected to be the first to suffer, with weaker monsoon rains effecting the crop growing season before sweeping eastwards towards the Philippines where residents are being urged to save water to reduce the possible impact of the drier weather.
In Malaysia, the national water authority is preparing for a dry spell and contemplating water rationing and major effects are expected in Australia where 2013 was already its hottest year on record and El Nino is threatening to turn the temperature up even further and bring severe droughts.
On the flip side, as dry arid air turns east, wet weather spreads West bringing relief to areas such as parched California which is in the midst of an extreme drought. El Nino's also have the effect of damping down hurricane activity on the Eastern side of the United States.
Heavier than usual rainfall also brings floods in South American countries such as Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Argentina but potential drought relief in arid Chile and Bolivia.
By virtue of being on the opposite side of the globe, Europe is the continent least affected but we can get some minor knock on effects over here.
Throwing in a natural phenomenon with global warming is not going to be pretty, experts believing that climate change is driving bigger El Nino events as the seas warm and Prof Michael Raupach, director of the Climate Change Institute at the Australian National University warns that 'El Nino can be the thing that pushes you over the edge. It will be in the years when you get a big El Nino when you feel the impact of climate change the most'.

1 comment:

Liber - Latin for "The Free One" said...
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