El+Nino+(1982-83)

= El Nino 1982-83 = Nick Van Ness

People may be asking what is an El Nino? To answer that question, an El Nino is characterized by unusually warm ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific, as opposed to an La Nina, which is characterized by unusually cold ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific. =El Nino's affect on Marine Life = El Nino affects marine life mainly through the drastic changes that occur in the Pacific ocean, especially along the equator and the Pacific coasts of North and South America. The two major factors are one, the intense warming in regions of normally cool, upwelled water, and two, the reduction in the supply of high, subsurface nutrients that normally upwell in the same regions. During El Niño changes occur in the distribution and abundance of many species. During the milder El Nino events, the Peruvian anchovy becomes scarce off Peru and more prevalent in the cooler Chilean waters to the south. In some instances the anchovy has been replaced by population increases of pelagic species that do better in warmer water, such as sardine and Spanish mackerel. Not only does the anchovy not like the warmer water, but the associated decrease in nutrients has a negative impact on the abundance of its principal food source: the microscopic algae (phytoplankton) that are normally so plentiful along the productive Peru coast. During strong events many other species are also affected and changes in species distributions can be seen as far away as the Gulf of Alaska. In some of the flooded coastal estuaries, shrimp production set records, but so, too, did the number of mosquito-borne malaria cases. = = Following the sea-level rises at __#|Christmas__ Island, sea birds abandoned their young and scattered over a wide expanse of the ocean in a desperate search for food. By the time conditions along the coast of Peru returned to normal in mid-1983, 25% of the year's fur seal and sea lion adults and all of the pups had died. Many species of fish suffered similar losses. Along the expanse of Pacific coastline stretching from Chile to British Columbia, water temperatures were above normal, and fish that normally live in the tropical and subtropical waters either migrated or were displaced poleward. Yet some marine creatures also benefited from the turmoil, as evidenced by the unexpected harvest of warm-water scallops that washed ashore on the coast of Ecuador. 

In Ecuador and northern Peru, up to 100 inches of rain fell during a six-month period, transforming the coastal desert into a grassland dotted with lakes. Lush vegetation attracted swarms of grasshoppers, which fueled explosions in the toad and bird populations. The new lakes also provided a temporary habitat for fish that had migrated upstream from the sea during the floods and become trapped. Many of them were harvested by local residents as the lakes dried up.

= = =El Nino and its economic effect = The economic impacts of the 1982-83 El Niño were large. Along the South American coast, the losses overshadowed the windfalls. The fishing industries in Ecuador and Peru suffered heavily when their anchovy harvest failed and their sardines unexpectedly moved south into Chilean waters. Farther to the west, abnormal wind patterns steered typhoons off their usual tracks to islands such as Hawaii and Tahiti, which are unaccustomed to such severe weather. They also caused the monsoon rains to fall over the central Pacific instead of on the western side, which led to droughts and disastrous forest fires in Indonesia and Australia. Winter storms battered southern California and caused widespread flooding across the southern United States, while northern ski resort owners complained of unusually mild weather and a lack of snow. Overall, the loss to the world economy in 1982-83 as a result of the climate changes amounted to over $8 billion. The toll in terms of human suffering is much more difficult to estimate.




 *  Bolivia || Effects:Storm related floods || Damage:$300 million || Victims:50 dead, 26,000 homeless ||
 * __#|Christmas__ Island || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Effects: 17 million birds disappeared, abandoning their nestlings ||  ||   ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Coast of California || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Effects: Torrential rains, winds, and high tides erode coast and dislodge kelp beds. ||  ||   ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Cuba || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Effects: Storm related floods || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Damage: $17 million || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Victims: 15 dead ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Ecuador & Northern Peru || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Effects: Flooding and coastal destruction from high surf || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Damage: $650 million || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Victims: 600 dead ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">French Polynesia || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Effects: Six major tropical storms ||  ||   ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Galapagos Islands || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Effects: Massive bird migrations, fur sea pups entirely lost, and major damage to coral reefs ||  ||   ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Hawaii || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Effects: a hurricane || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Damage: $230 million || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Victims: 1 dead ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Iberian Peninsula and Northern Africa || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Effects: Drought || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Damage: $200 million ||  ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Indonesia || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Effects: Drought || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Damage: $500 million || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Victims: 340 dead ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Japan || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Effects: cold currents reducing harvest ||  ||   ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Kiribato to the Line Islands || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Effects: Heavy storms || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Damage: Incomplete ||  ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Mexico and Central America || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Effects: Drought || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Damage: $600 million ||  ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Micronesia || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Effects: Severe drought and fires || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Damage: Incomplete ||  ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Middle East || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Effects: Cold and snow || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Damage: $50 million || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Victims: 65 dead ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Philippines || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Effects: Drought || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Damage: $450 million ||  ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Southern Africa || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Effects: Drought || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Damage: $1 billion ||  ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Southern Brazil || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Effects: Flooding || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Damage: $3 billion || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Victims: 170 dead, 600,000 evacuated ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Southern China || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Effects: Wet weather || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Damage: $600 million || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Victims: 600 dead ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Southern India and Sri Lanka || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Effects: Drought || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Damage: $150 million ||  ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Southern Peru and Western Bolivia || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Effects: Drought || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Damage: $240 million ||  ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Tahiti || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Effects: 1 hurricane || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Damage: $50 million || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Victims: 1 dead ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">United States || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Effects: Storms || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Damage: $2.2 billion || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Victims: 161+ dead ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Western Europe || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Effects: Storm related floods || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Damage: $200 million || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Victims: 25 dead ||

=<span style="color: #ff8600; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 170%;">How an El Nino forms = <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times,serif;"> An El Nino forms by the trade winds producing cool surface water in the eastern Pacific, through evaporation and the upwelling of colder water from below the surface. Then as the trade winds weaken or die down, so does the containment of the warm water in the west and the containment of the coolness in the east. As a result, relatively warm water becomes widely ranged all across the Pacific from Papua New Guinea to South America. Another great impact in the formation of an El Nino, is southern oscillation. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Southern oscillation, or ENSO, is a changeable climate pattern that occurs across the tropical Pacific Ocean roughly every five years. The southern oscillation refers to variations in the temperature of the surface of the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean and in air surface pressure in the tropical western Pacific.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =<span style="color: #ff8600; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 170%;">The Catastrophic Events El Nino of 1982-1983 brought =

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The 1982-83 El Nino was one of the stronger occurrences since records have been kept. The Jet Stream shifted eastward, the left-exit region of the Jet Streak. This is where upper level divergence initiates a frontal low to form, bringing rainy/stormy conditions. It moved closer to the West Coast of the United States. This is what brought wetter than average weather to many countries, including more than average snow in the mountains. Also, the El Nino brought outgoing long-wave radiation (OLR). OLR is an indicator of how much of this radiation is being reflected back to space due to clear vs. cloudy conditions. High OLR shows clear and dry conditions as more radiation is being released into the atmosphere, and low OLR shows cloudy and wet conditions, indicating convection and storms. In addition, the warmer waters in the Eastern Pacific cause nutrients in cool, shallow surface water to move deeper in order to find the cooler waters. Upwelling water, therefore, has less of these nutrients. Since these nutrients sustain marine life, this severely impacts the food chain and the fish market.

=<span style="color: #ff8600; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 31px; line-height: 46px;">What indicates the El Nino =
 * 1) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Rise in surface pressure over the Indian Ocean, Indonesia, and Australia
 * 2) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Fall in air pressure over Tahiti and the rest of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean
 * 3) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Trade winds in the south Pacific weaken or head east
 * 4) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Warm air rises near Peru, causing rain in the northern Peruvian deserts
 * 5) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Warm water spreads from the west Pacific and the Indian Ocean to the east Pacific. It takes the rain with it, causing extensive drought in the western Pacific and rainfall in the normally dry eastern Pacific. [[image:el_nino_3d.en.gif align="right"]]

=<span style="color: #ff8600; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 170%; line-height: 33px;">Over all destruction of the El Nino = <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The El Niño of 1982-83 was the cause of nearly 2,000 lives and spreading of hundreds of thousands from their homes. The losses were caused by droughts and fires in Australia, Southern Africa, Central America, Indonesia, the Philippines, South America and India. There were floods in the USA, Gulf of Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Cuba. More hurricanes than usual affected Hawaii and Tahiti.



Works Cited Caviedes, Cesar N. "El Nino 1982-83." Caviedes, Cesar N. __El Nino 1982-83__. Gainesville, FL: American Geographical Society, 1984. 267-290.

Department of Atmospheric Sciences. __El Nino Sea Surface Temperatures__. 23 April 2010. 4 June 2012 <http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/eln/sst.rxml>.

Enfield, David B. __Frequently Asked Questions About El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)__. 12 April 2003. 4 June 2012 <http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/general/enso_faq/>.

Jarvis-Ferguson, Debbie. __The 1982-1983 El Nino__. 5 November 2005. 4 June 2012 <http://www.fcst-office.com/HardRock/Meteo241/El%20Nino%201982-1983/ProjectThree.html>.