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EL NIÑO AND LA NIÑA
source: www.climatechange
solutions.com/science/weather/
weather.shtml?o=weather
www.nationalgeographic.com/
elnino/mainpage.html
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El Niño is a weather disruption in the tropical Pacific, during which the water temperature off the coast of South America rises sharply for a period of 12 to 18 months…- the strongest effects are torrential rain and storms on the eastern side of the ocean and drought on the west, although related effects are also felt right across the globe;
- the strongest El Niño in over a century occurred in 1997-98. It rose out of the tropical Pacific, bearing more energy than a million Hiroshima bombs. By the time it had run its course eight months later, the giant El Niño of 1997-98 had deranged weather patterns around the world, killed an estimated 2,100 people, and caused at least 33 billion US$ in property damage;
By contrast, La Niña is a weather disruption during which the water temperature off the coast of South America falls by up to 4 °C… - a La Niña has followed on directly from the 1997-98 El Niño. While some scientists believe that climate change may be worsening the effects of El Niño, there is no consensus yet on any direct link;
- in the past 98 years there have been 23 El Niños and 15 La Niñas. Of the century’s ten most powerful El Niños, four - the four strongest - have occurred since 1980;
- a recent study has projected that intense El Niños and La Niñas would become more common if the amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere continue to rise.
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