El Nino

Note on El Nino
El Nino is an ocean current triggered in the South Pacific Ocean (its cause is not yet established as yet but one of the reasons, it is believed is volcanic explosions in the extreme south west of the South Pacific Rise in the Southern Ocean bordering the waters of the extreme southwest of the Pacific Ocean. The heat obtaining from volcanic / seamount activity triggers the reversal of the Southern oscillation.

This reverses the normally anticlockwise south pacific Humboldt  Current leaving it to flow in a clockwise fashion on the west coast of South America. When the currents in the South Pacific become clockwise it renders all seasons to play out in the reverse. This has a global impact because the normally anticlockwise currents become clockwise triggering unseasonal weather in  every Latitude and Longitude in every piece of landmass across the world.

Called El Nino Southern Oscillation - implying the clockwise flow of the currents instead of anti clock wise -  ENSO brings torrential rain, unseasonal snow, droughts severe summers or severe winters in an unseasonal fashion. Winters are washed out by rain bringing unseasonal humidity for instance or summers are colder than Spring and so on. The Tropics are very hard hit by ENSO. Monsoon or rainy seasons are washed out ushering in unseasonal droughts. In other places heavy rain triggers landslides and mudslides... This has a severe and debilitating impact on agricultural output, industrial production. Allied sectors like transport, sericulture, horticulture; the very fabric of agricultural economy are also very harshly impacted. Floods displace everyone from the well off to the weak and vulnerable, frail and infirm. Among the calamities triggered by ENSO are: avalanches, blizzards, cyclones, cloudburst, coastal erosion, drought, desertification, epidemics, forest fires, floods, famine, flash floods, ice storms, hailstorms, landslides, mudslides, pestilence, plague, storms, squalls, urban floods, volcanic landslides, mudslides and Lahars.

 Unseasonal flooding of the Jhelum in Jammu and Kashmir in September 2014 in India heralded the onset of the Godzilla El Nino on 2014 - 16 believed to have been triggered by the Super volcanic explosion of the Havre Seamount north of New Zealand.  © National Disaster Response Force, Government of India

 The 1987 drought that hit South Asia and Sub Saharan Africa accounted for the death of thousands. Safe drinking  water becomes such a challenge! © UN Photo Library.

 Unseasonal drought withers forest cover creating sand dunes leading to desertification.  © UN Photo Library

 Children are the most vulnerable demographic group during natural disasters. © UN Photo Library.

 Displacement and migration are the one of the most pressing and immediate fall out of natural disasters. © World Vision International

 Landslides cause flash floods because terrain changes instantly after landslides. © National Disaster Response Force, Government of India.

 Avalanches have a seismic or geological triggers. But these terrifying snow storms change terrain and claim lives landscape and livestock. © Swiss Avalanche Forecasting Centre

 Increased snow fall during El Nino or La Nina years leave a bruised landscape. In this very interesting picture one can actually see a cross section of the layers of snow in Himachal Pradesh enroute to the Rohtang Pass in the Western Himalayas. © Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation.

 The Barren Island Volcano in Andaman Nicobar Islands. The role of volcanoes in Climate Change and ocean gyres   and Indian Ocean Dipole needs to be studied much more intensely. © Information and Publicity Department, Union Territory Administration of Andaman Nicobar Islands.

 A Search and Rescue official of FEMA in Hawaii walks past rapidly encroaching lava in Hawaii in May 2018. The role of volcanoes in Climate Change needs a lot more of documented studies. © USGS

 Floods have a debilitating impact on the affected communities.  Haiti's floods of October 2016 - caused by Hurricane Mathew left more than 500 people dead. When Haiti was still recovering from the 2012 earthquake it hit the Island nation so hard that there was a multitude of disasters. Lack of water supply sanitation inadequacy triggered a cholera outbreak. Climate Change has a debilitating impact on communities that lack resilience. © UN Photo Library

 El Nino triggered landslide change the terrain in an instant. This causes landslips, landslides, mudslides, rock-slips, change in the course of rivers, change in hydrology, flash floods, floods, loss of life in the immediate aftermath. The near term impact includes food shortage and change in the economic structure. Long term impact includes malnutrition in the affected communities Re-greening areas where unsustainable development has taken a toll on tree cover is the sure way to combat desertification in cold deserts too. © National Disaster Response Force, Government of India.

 Island states are most vulnerable to sea level rise in the day and age of Climate Change. With rapid coastal erosion and rogue sea waves Island states and their citizenry are most at risk. Developed Economies are morally obliged to decrease consumption of Chloro Flouro Carbons and Green House Gases to save the lives of Islanders the world over. © UN Photo Library.

This is a picture of sea water ingress in the aftermath of the Asian Tsunami of December 2004. It has little to do with Climate Change for sure but showcases the the terror of natural calamities. © Prince Rasheed, Nicobar, Andaman Nicobar Islands. India

Here is an example of how terrain changes instantly during El Nino induced landslides. This is a picture from the Uttarakhand flash flood of June 2013 in India. © National Disaster Response Force, Government of India.

Pictures: National Disaster Response Force, government of India, United States Geological Survey, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, US Government, UN Photo Library, Prince Rasheed, Information and Publicity Department, Union Territory Administration of Andaman Nicobar Islands,  Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation,  Swiss Avalanche Forecasting Centre, World Vision International.

Text / Photo captions: Malini Shankar