Peruvian Humboldt Current: “Pacific River. El Niño and La Niño phenomena Fatal long-distance connections

At all times, the yellow press has increased its ratings due to various news of a mystical, catastrophic, provocative or revealing nature. However, recently, more and more people are beginning to be frightened by various natural disasters, the ends of the world, etc. In this article we will talk about one natural phenomenon that sometimes borders on mysticism - the warm El Niño current. What is this? This question is often asked by people on various Internet forums. Let's try to answer it.

Natural phenomenon El Niño

In 1997-1998 One of the largest natural disasters associated with this phenomenon in the entire history of observations took place on our planet. This mysterious phenomenon caused a lot of noise and attracted close attention from the world media, and the encyclopedia will tell you its name for the phenomenon. In scientific terms, El Niño is a complex of changes in the chemical and thermobaric parameters of the atmosphere and ocean that take on the character of a natural disaster. As you can see, this is a very difficult definition to understand, so let’s try to look at it through the eyes of an ordinary person. The reference literature says that El Niño is just a warm current that sometimes occurs off the coast of Peru, Ecuador and Chile. Scientists cannot explain the nature of the appearance of this current. The name of the phenomenon itself comes from the Spanish language and means “baby.” El Niño got its name due to the fact that it appears only at the end of December and coincides with Catholic Christmas.

Normal situation

In order to understand the anomalous nature of this phenomenon, let us first consider the usual climate situation in this region of the planet. Everyone knows that the mild weather in Western Europe is determined by the warm Gulf Stream, while in the Pacific Ocean of the Southern Hemisphere the tone is set by the cold Antarctic. The prevailing Atlantic winds here - the trade winds, which blow on the western South American coast, crossing the high Andes, leave all the moisture on the eastern slopes. As a result, the western part of the mainland is a rocky desert where rainfall is extremely rare. However, when the trade winds pick up so much moisture that they can transport it across the Andes, they form a powerful surface current here, which causes a surge of water off the coast. The attention of specialists was attracted by the colossal biological activity of this region. Here, in a relatively small area, annual fish production exceeds the global total by 20%. This also leads to an increase in fish-eating birds in the region. And in places where they accumulate, a colossal mass of guano (dung) - a valuable fertilizer - is concentrated. In some places the thickness of its layers reaches 100 meters. These deposits became the object of industrial production and export.

Catastrophe

Now let's look at what happens when the warm El Niño current appears. In this case, the situation changes dramatically. An increase in temperature leads to mass death or loss of fish and, as a result, birds. Next, there is a drop in atmospheric pressure in the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean, clouds appear, trade winds subside, and the winds change their direction to the opposite. As a result, torrents of water fall on the western slopes of the Andes, floods, floods, and mudslides rage here. And on the opposite side of the Pacific Ocean - in Indonesia, Australia, New Guinea - a terrible drought begins, which leads to forest fires and the destruction of agricultural crops. However, the El Niño phenomenon is not limited to this: “red tides”, which are caused by the growth of microscopic algae, begin to develop from the Chilean coast to California. It would seem that everything is clear, but the nature of the phenomenon is not completely clear. Thus, oceanographers consider the appearance of warm waters to be a consequence of a change in winds, and meteorologists explain the change in winds by the heating of waters. What kind of vicious circle is this? However, let's look at some things that climate scientists have missed.

Degassing El Niño scenario

What kind of phenomenon this is, geologists helped to figure it out. For ease of understanding, we will try to move away from specific scientific terms and tell everything in a generally accessible language. It turns out that El Niño forms in the ocean above one of the most active geological areas of the rift system (a rupture in the earth's crust). Hydrogen is actively released from the depths of the planet, which, upon reaching the surface, forms a reaction with oxygen. As a result, heat arises, which warms the water. In addition, this also leads to the appearance of over the region, which also contributes to more intense heating of the ocean by solar radiation. Most likely, the role of the Sun is decisive in this process. All this leads to an increase in evaporation, a decrease in pressure, as a result of which a cyclone is formed.

Biological productivity

Why is there such high biological activity in this region? Scientists estimate that it corresponds to the heavily fertilized ponds in Asia and is more than 50 times higher than in other parts of the Pacific Ocean. Traditionally, this is usually explained by the wind driving warm waters from the coast - upwelling. As a result of this process, cold water, enriched with nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), rises from the depths. And when El Niño appears, upwelling is interrupted, as a result of which birds and fish die or migrate. It would seem that everything is clear and logical. However, here too, scientists do not say much. For example, the mechanism for rising water from the depths of the ocean slightly Scientists measure temperatures at various depths oriented perpendicular to the shore. Then graphs (isotherms) are constructed, comparing the level of coastal and deep waters, and the above-mentioned conclusions are drawn from this. However, measuring the temperature in coastal waters is incorrect, because it is known that their coldness is determined by the Peruvian Current. And the process of constructing isotherms across the coastline is incorrect, because the prevailing winds blow along it.

But the geological version easily fits into this scheme. It has long been known that the water column of this region has a very low oxygen content (the reason is a geological discontinuity) - lower than anywhere on the planet. And the upper layers (30 m), on the contrary, are abnormally rich in it due to the Peruvian Current. It is in this layer (above the rift zones) that unique conditions for the development of life are created. When the El Niño current appears, degassing in the region increases, and the thin surface layer is saturated with methane and hydrogen. This leads to the death of living beings, and not at all the lack of food supply.

Red tides

However, with the onset of an environmental disaster, life here does not stop. Single-celled algae - dinoflagellates - begin to actively reproduce in the water. Their red color is protection from solar ultraviolet radiation (we already mentioned that an ozone hole forms over the region). Thus, thanks to the abundance of microscopic algae, many marine organisms that act as ocean filters (oysters, etc.) become poisonous, and eating them leads to severe poisoning.

The model is confirmed

Let's consider an interesting fact that confirms the reality of the degassing version. American researcher D. Walker carried out work to analyze sections of this underwater ridge, as a result of which he came to the conclusion that during the years of El Niño, seismic activity sharply increased. But it has long been known that it is often accompanied by increased degassing of the subsoil. So, most likely, scientists simply confused cause and effect. It turns out that the changed direction of El Niño is a consequence, not the cause of subsequent events. This model is also supported by the fact that during these years the water literally boils with the release of gases.

La Niña

This is the name given to the final phase of El Niño, which results in a sharp cooling of the water. A natural explanation for this phenomenon is the destruction of the ozone layer over Antarctica and the Equator, which causes and leads to an influx of cold water in the Peruvian Current, which cools El Niño.

Root cause in space

The media blame El Niño for floods in South Korea, unprecedented frosts in Europe, droughts and fires in Indonesia, destruction of the ozone layer, etc. However, if we remember the fact that the mentioned current is just a consequence of geological processes occurring in the bowels of the Earth, then we should think about the root cause. And it is hidden in the influence on the core of the planet of the Moon, the Sun, the planets of our system, as well as other celestial bodies. So it’s useless to blame El Niño...

The first time I heard the word “El Niño” was in the United States in 1998. At that time, this natural phenomenon was well known to Americans, but almost unknown in our country. And it’s not surprising, because El Niño originates in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America and greatly influences the weather in the southern states of the United States. El Niño(translated from Spanish El Niño- baby, boy) in the terminology of climatologists - one of the phases of the so-called Southern Oscillation, i.e. fluctuations in the temperature of the surface layer of water in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, during which the area of ​​heated surface water shifts to the east. (For reference: the opposite phase of oscillation - the displacement of surface waters to the west - is called La Niña (La Nina- baby, girl)). The El Niño phenomenon, which occurs periodically in the ocean, greatly affects the climate of the entire planet. One of the largest El Niño events occurred in 1997-1998. It was so strong that it attracted the attention of the world community and the press. At the same time, theories about the connection of the Southern Oscillation with global climate change spread. According to experts, the warming phenomenon El Niño is one of the main driving forces of natural variability in our climate.

In 2015 The World Meteorological Organization said the premature El Niño, dubbed the “Bruce Lee,” could be one of the strongest since 1950. Its appearance was expected last year, based on data on rising air temperatures, but these models did not materialize, and El Niño did not manifest itself.

In early November, the American agency NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) released a detailed report on the state of the Southern Oscillation and analyzed the possible development of El Niño in 2015-2016. The report is published on the NOAA website. The conclusions of this document state that the conditions for the formation of El Niño are currently in place, and the average surface temperature of the equatorial Pacific (SST) is elevated and continues to rise. The probability that El Niño will develop throughout the winter of 2015-2016 is 95% . A gradual decline of El Niño is predicted in the spring of 2016. The report published an interesting graph showing the change in SST since 1951. Blue areas correspond to low temperatures (La Niña), orange indicates high temperatures (El Niño). The previous strong increase in SST of 2°C was observed in 1998.

Data obtained in October 2015 indicate that the SST anomaly at the epicenter already reaches 3 °C.

Although the causes of El Niño are not yet fully understood, it is known that it begins with trade winds weakening over several months. A series of waves move across the Pacific Ocean along the equator and create a body of warm water off South America, where the ocean normally has low temperatures due to the rise of deep ocean waters to the surface. Weakening trade winds coupled with strong westerly winds could also create a pair of cyclones (south and north of the equator), which is another sign of a future El Niño.

While studying the causes of El Niño, geologists noticed that the phenomenon occurs in the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean, where a powerful rift system has formed. American researcher D. Walker found a clear connection between increased seismicity on the East Pacific Rise and El Niño. Russian scientist G. Kochemasov saw another curious detail: the relief fields of ocean warming almost one to one repeat the structure of the earth's core.

One of the interesting versions belongs to the Russian scientist - Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences Vladimir Syvorotkin. It was first expressed back in 1998. According to the scientist, powerful centers of hydrogen-methane degassing are located in hot spots of the ocean. Or simply - sources of constant release of gases from the bottom. Their visible signs are thermal water outlets, black and white smokers. In the area of ​​the coast of Peru and Chile, during El Niño years there is a massive release of hydrogen sulfide. The water is boiling and there is a terrible smell. At the same time, an amazing power is pumped into the atmosphere: approximately 450 million megawatts.

The El Niño phenomenon is now being studied and discussed more and more intensively. A team of researchers from the German National Center for Geosciences has concluded that the mysterious disappearance of the Mayan civilization in Central America may have been caused by strong climate changes caused by El Niño. At the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries AD, the two largest civilizations of that time ceased to exist on opposite ends of the earth almost simultaneously. We are talking about the Mayan Indians and the fall of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, which was followed by a period of internecine strife. Both civilizations were located in monsoon regions, the moisture of which depends on seasonal precipitation. However, a time came when the rainy season was unable to provide sufficient moisture for the development of agriculture. The drought and subsequent famine led to the decline of these civilizations, researchers believe. Scientists came to these conclusions by studying the nature of sedimentary deposits in China and Mesoamerica dating back to this period. The last emperor of the Tang Dynasty died in 907 AD, and the last known Mayan calendar dates back to 903.

Climatologists and meteorologists say that El Niño2015, which will peak between November 2015 and January 2016, will be one of the strongest. El Niño will lead to large-scale disturbances in atmospheric circulation, which could cause droughts in traditionally wet regions and floods in dry ones.

A phenomenal phenomenon, which is considered one of the manifestations of the developing El Niño, is now observed in South America. The Atacama Desert, which is located in Chile and is one of the driest places on Earth, is covered with flowers.

This desert is rich in deposits of nitrate, iodine, table salt and copper; for four centuries there has been no significant precipitation. The reason is that the Peruvian Current cools the lower layers of the atmosphere and creates a temperature inversion that prevents precipitation. Rain falls here once every few decades. However, in 2015, the Atacama was hit by unusually heavy rainfall. As a result, dormant bulbs and rhizomes (horizontally growing underground roots) sprouted. The faded plains of the Atacama were covered with yellow, red, violet and white flowers - nolans, beaumaries, rhodophials, fuchsias and hollyhocks. The desert first bloomed in March, after unexpectedly intense rains caused flooding in the Atacama and killed about 40 people. Now the plants have bloomed for the second time in a year, before the start of the southern summer.

What will El Niño 2015 bring? A powerful El Niño is expected to bring welcome rainfall to dry areas of the United States. In other countries, its effect may be the opposite. In the western Pacific Ocean, El Niño creates high atmospheric pressure, bringing dry and sunny weather to large areas of Australia, Indonesia, and sometimes even India. The impact of El Niño on Russia has so far been limited. It is believed that under the influence of El Niño in October 1997, temperatures in Western Siberia reached above 20 degrees, and then they started talking about the retreat of permafrost to the north. In August 2000, Emergencies Ministry specialists attributed the series of hurricanes and rainstorms that swept across the country to the impact of the El Niño phenomenon.

Must retreat. It is being replaced by a diametrically opposite phenomenon - La Niña. And if the first phenomenon can be translated from Spanish as “child” or “boy,” then La Niña means “girl.” Scientists hope that the phenomenon will help somewhat balance the climate in both hemispheres, lowering the average annual temperature, which is now rapidly rising.

What are El Nino and La Nina

El Niño and La Niña are warm and cold currents or opposing extremes of water temperature and atmospheric pressure characteristic of the equatorial Pacific Ocean that last about six months.

Phenomenon El Niño consists of a sharp increase in temperature (by 5-9 degrees) of the surface layer of water in the eastern Pacific Ocean over an area of ​​about 10 million square meters. km.

La Niña- the opposite of El Niño - manifests itself as a decrease in surface water temperature below the climate norm in the eastern tropical zone of the Pacific Ocean.

Together they constitute the so-called Southern Oscillation.

How does El Niño form? Near the Pacific coast of South America there is a cold Peruvian Current, which arises due to the trade winds. About once every 5-10 years, the trade winds weaken for 1-6 months. As a result, the cold current stops its “work”, and warm waters shift to the shores of South America. This phenomenon is called El Niño. El Niño energy can lead to disturbances in the entire atmosphere of the Earth, provokes environmental disasters, the phenomenon is involved in numerous weather anomalies in the tropics, which often lead to material losses and even human casualties.

What will La Niña bring to the planet?

Just like El Niño, La Niña appears with a certain cyclicity from 2 to 7 years and lasts from 9 months to a year. For residents of the Northern Hemisphere, the phenomenon threatens a decrease in winter temperatures by 1-2 degrees, which in current conditions is not so bad. Considering that the Earth has shifted, and now spring comes 10 years earlier than 40 years ago.

It should also be noted that El Niño and La Niña do not necessarily have to succeed each other - there can often be several “neutral” years between them.

But don't expect La Niña to come quickly. Judging by observations, this year will be under the rule of El Niño, as evidenced by monthly data on both a planetary and local scale. “Girl” will begin to bear fruit no earlier than 2017.

Doctor of Geographical Sciences D. FASHCHUK.

Natural disasters are not uncommon on our planet. They happen both on land and at sea. The mechanisms of development of catastrophic phenomena are so intricate that it takes scientists years to come closer to understanding the complex set of cause-and-effect relationships in the “atmosphere-hydrosphere-earth” system.

The circulation of the Pacific Ocean waters consists of two anticyclonic gyres.

In normal climatic years, there is plenty of fish off the coast of Peru for everyone: both people and birds.

When trade winds weaken, the warm water accumulated during the La Niña period off the western coast of the ocean “rolls back” to the east.

Science and life // Illustrations

Long-term observations show that anomalies in the surface temperature of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Latin America during periods of El Niño and La Niña development (top) are in antiphase with changes in the Southern Oscillation index (bottom).

Science and life // Illustrations

Under normal conditions (La Niña), the Pacific trade winds blow in a westerly direction (diagram above).

The abundance of fish in the Peruvian upwelling zone attracts many birds to the Latin American coast.

One of the destructive natural phenomena, accompanied by numerous human casualties and colossal material losses, is El Niño. Translated from Spanish, El Niño means “baby boy,” and it is so named because it often occurs around Christmas. This “baby” brings with it a real disaster: off the coasts of Ecuador and Peru, the water temperature rises sharply, by 7-12 o C, fish disappear and birds die, and prolonged heavy rains begin. Legends about such phenomena have been preserved among the Indians of local tribes since the times when these lands were not conquered by the Spaniards, and Peruvian archaeologists have established that in ancient times local residents, protecting themselves from catastrophic torrential rains, built houses not with flat ones, as now, but with gable roofs.

Although El Niño is usually attributed only to oceanic effects, in fact this phenomenon is closely related to meteorological processes called the Southern Oscillation, which is, figuratively speaking, an atmospheric “swing” the size of an ocean. In addition, modern researchers of the nature of the Earth have also managed to identify the geophysical component of this amazing phenomenon: it turns out that mechanical and thermal vibrations of the atmosphere and ocean jointly rock our planet, which also affects the intensity and frequency of environmental disasters.

OCEAN WATERS FLOW AND...
SOMETIMES THEY STOP

In the southern tropical part of the Pacific Ocean in normal years (under average climatic conditions) there is a huge circulation with water moving counterclockwise. The eastern part of the gyre is represented by the cold Peruvian Current, heading north along the coasts of Ecuador and Peru. In the area of ​​the Galapagos Islands, under the influence of trade winds, it turns to the west, turning into the South Equatorial Current, which carries relatively cold waters in this direction along the equator. Along the entire border of its contact in the equator region with the warm inter-trade countercurrent, an equatorial front is formed, preventing the flow of warm countercurrent waters to the coast of Latin America.

Thanks to this system of water circulation along the coast of Peru, in the zone of the Peruvian Current, a huge area of ​​rise of relatively cold deep waters, well fertilized with mineral compounds, is formed - the Peruvian upwelling. Naturally, it provides a high level of biological productivity in the area. This picture was called "La Niña" (translated from Spanish as "baby girl"). This “sister” El Niño is quite harmless.

In years with abnormal climatic conditions, La Niña transforms into El Niño: the cold Peruvian Current, paradoxically, practically stops, thereby “blocking” the rise of deep cold waters in the upwelling zone, and as a result, the productivity of coastal waters sharply decreases. The ocean surface temperature throughout the region rises to 21-23 ° C, and sometimes to 25-29 ° C. The temperature contrast at the border of the South Equatorial Current with the warm inter-trade current or disappears altogether - the equatorial front is washed away, and the warm waters of the Equatorial Countercurrent spread unhindered towards the coast of Latin America.

The intensity, magnitude and duration of El Niño can vary significantly. For example, in 1982-1983, during the most intense period of El Niño observations in 130 years, this phenomenon began in September 1982 and lasted until August 1983. At the same time, the maximum ocean surface temperatures in the coastal cities of Peru from Talara to Callao exceeded the long-term average for November-July by 8-10 o C. In Talara they reached 29 o C, and in Callao - 24 o C. Even in the southernmost areas of development catastrophe (18 degrees south latitude), the anomalies of coastal ocean surface temperature values ​​were 6-7 o C, and the total area of ​​the Pacific Ocean covered by El Niño was 13 million km 2.

Naturally, with such a scale and intensity of the phenomenon, anomalies in climate parameters not only spread to the continental periphery of the Pacific Ocean, but also reached Northern Europe and South Africa. A similar situation was observed in the period 1997-1998. Moreover, scientists believe that in the distant geological past, super-El Niño could have occurred, lasting 200 years, which, in addition to short-term climate anomalies, led to long periods of warming.

It is curious that over the past 50 years, as in the previous half-century, a whole spectrum of cycles has been identified in the nature of ocean surface temperature anomalies in the area of ​​El Niño development - from 2 to 7 years, but all of them turned out to be unreliable for predicting the phenomenon.

ATMOSPHERIC "SWING"

After getting acquainted with the oceanic mechanisms of El Niño development, it is logical to ask: what force stops the cold Peruvian Current? The answer to this question forces us to turn to one of the “conductors” of the life of the marine ecosystem - atmospheric circulation.

In 1924, English meteorologist Gilbert Walker developed and successfully put into practice the so-called “world weather method”, which is based on the search for “long-range connections” between changes in hydrometeorological elements in different regions of the globe. Investigating the nature of monsoon winds in South and Southeast Asia, Walker analyzed atmospheric pressure anomalies in the subtropical zone of the Southern Hemisphere and came to the conclusion that the monsoons are part of the global atmospheric circulation, and not its regional element. It turned out that over the Australian-Indonesian region of the Indian Ocean and over the waters of the South Pacific Ocean (region of the island of Tahiti), atmospheric pressure, not without the help of the Indian monsoon, changes in antiphase. The centers of action of these giant “swings” of pressure are thus located in the Southern Hemisphere - hence the name “Southern Oscillation”.

It was only 40 years later, in 1966-1969, that Norwegian meteorologist Jakob Bjerknes linked the Southern Oscillation to El Niño. He was able to establish that when the “swing” is tilted towards Australia, the Peruvian upwelling works normally, steady trade winds drive cold water past the Galapagos Islands to the west (towards low pressure) along the equator. That is, there is a “cold” phase of the Southern Oscillation - La Niña, during which environmental disasters do not occur on the planet. At the same time, the level of the Pacific Ocean in its western part is half a meter higher than in the eastern part: trade winds push warm water to the west.

In the case when the “swing” is inclined towards Tahiti, expect trouble, a failure occurs in the normal circulation system of the Pacific Ocean, the trade winds weaken until they change direction to the east (towards low pressure), and warm water from the coast of New Guinea rushes to East. For this reason, the Peruvian current “stops”, and then the entire chain of events associated with the “warm” phase of the Southern Oscillation, El Niño, develops. At the same time, the difference in levels in the eastern and western parts of the ocean changes sign. Now it is already half a meter higher in the eastern part than in the western part.

This mechanism of interaction between the atmosphere and the ocean during periods of El Niño gave reason to assume that, first of all, this phenomenon reflects the reaction of the ocean to the influence of variable trade winds. Level fluctuations clearly recorded by instruments on the eastern and western peripheries of the Pacific Ocean during the change of “warm” and “cold” phases of El Niño represent, in fact, the same “swing”, but not in the atmosphere, but in the ocean. The reason for their swaying is trade winds. After changing their traditional direction or weakening in intensity, the warm water accumulated during the La Niña period off the western coast of the ocean in the form of the so-called internal Kelvin wave “rolls back” to the coasts of Peru and Ecuador and contributes to the suppression of upwelling and an increase in ocean surface temperatures.

After Bjerknes discovered the connection between the El Niño phenomenon and the Southern Oscillation, scientists began to use the El Niño/Southern Oscillation Index - SOI (Southern Oscillation Index) to assess the degree of disturbance (state anomaly) of the global atmospheric and oceanic circulation. It quantifies the Southern Oscillation and reflects the pressure difference over the island of Tahiti and the city of Darwin in Northern Australia.

The researchers tried to identify patterns of changes in the SOI index, which would make it possible to predict the time of onset of environmental disasters, but, unfortunately, over the almost 130-year history of observations of pressure in the centers of the Southern Oscillation (as well as in the case of ocean surface temperature anomalies), visible stable no cycles were found in its changes. The El Niño phenomenon repeats itself at intervals of 4 to 18 years, with 6-8 year intervals being the most common.

Such confusion in the cycles suggests that, most likely, scientists do not take into account all the factors involved in the development of this phenomenon. And quite recently the assumption was confirmed.

PLANET-YULA ROCKS THE OCEAN

The oceanic and meteorological processes and causal relationships responsible for the occurrence of El Niño develop in the aquatic environment and above the surface of the Earth, which, as is known, rotates around its axis at a speed of 7.29 . 10 -5 rad/s. The axis of rotation is inclined to the plane of the earth's orbit - the ecliptic - at an angle of 66 about 33".

Since the Earth is flattened along its axis and is an ellipsoid of revolution, there is an excess of mass at its equator. The gravitational forces of the Moon and the Sun, thus, are not applied to the center of mass of our planet. As a result, a moment of force arises that causes the Earth to precess, tilt forward, and at the same time rotate. The Earth's axis, it turns out, "swings" from side to side with a period of 26 thousand years and an angular amplitude of 27 o 27", describing a cone, like a spinning top with a weak winding. But that's not all. Moments of gravitational forces that make the Earth "sway" , depend on its position relative to the Moon and the Sun, which, naturally, is constantly changing. As a result, simultaneously with precession, nutation (oscillation) of the Earth's rotation axis occurs. It manifests itself in short-period oscillations of the axis ("vibrations") with a period of 428 days and angular amplitude is only 18.4". All these mechanisms cause the poles to “beat” with a period of 6 years and a maximum deviation from the average position of only 15 m.

The combined influence of the described complex of geophysical factors is expressed in the development of lunar-solar nutational oscillations in the atmosphere and the World Ocean. They, in turn, strengthen the waves of polar tides, which arise as a result of the “beating” of the poles. The sum of these geophysical variations undoubtedly influences the development of El Niño.

GOODBYE GUANO!

The most valuable national asset of any state is, of course, the people living in it. But if we approach the issue more pragmatically, then this concept most often means natural resources. In one country there are deposits of oil and gas, in another there are deposits of gold and diamonds or other valuable minerals. In this sense, the state of Peru is unique: one of the most significant national wealth of the country is... guano - bird droppings.

The fact is that on the coast of the state there is the world’s largest community of birds (up to 30 million individuals), intensively producing the best of natural fertilizers, containing 9% nitrogen compounds and 13% phosphorus. The main suppliers of this wealth are three species of birds: the Peruvian cormorant, the spotted gannet and the pelican. Over many centuries, they have produced "drifts" of fertilizers up to 50 m high. To achieve such productivity, the birds have to eat 2.5 million tons of fish per year - 20-25% of the world's anchovy fish catch. Fortunately, upwelling provides in this area the accumulation of countless reserves of the main bird food - the Peruvian anchovy. During La Niña years, its quantity off the coast of Peru is so great that there is enough food not only for birds, but also for people. Until recently, the catches of fishermen in this relatively small country reached 12.5 million tons per year - twice as much as all other countries in North and Central America produce. Not surprisingly, Peru's fishing industry accounts for one third of the country's gross foreign trade income.

During El Niño, upwelling is destroyed, the productivity of coastal waters drops sharply, and mass death of anchovies occurs from starvation and sudden warming of water. As a result, the birds' food supply - accumulations of anchovies - ceases to exist. The number of feathered fertilizer producers during these periods is reduced by 5-6 times, and fishermen’s catches become symbolic.

FATAL DISTANCE CONNECTIONS

Among the huge number of sayings left to us by the philosophers of Ancient Rome and Greece, the best motto for environmental research may be the expression “Praemonitus praemunitus” (“Forewarned is forearmed”). Yes, today scientists have something to warn millions of people on our planet about.

During the El Niño period of 1982-1983, more than two thousand people died from floods, droughts and other natural disasters, and property losses amounted to more than $13 billion. People found themselves unarmed in the face of the elements, because they did not know about the impending disasters, although the mechanism of their development is more than simple.

The field of surface water temperature determines the location of convection areas in the air above the ocean surface in which intense cloud formation occurs. The greater the temperature difference between water and atmosphere, the more active this process occurs. During the La Niña phenomenon along the Pacific coast of Latin America, the water-air temperature contrast is small due to developed upwelling. Clouds do not form here and rain is rare, although due to the relatively low water temperatures in the coastal zone, the coast of Peru is a land of cold and fog. A sandy strip of land 40 km wide (from the ocean to the foot of the Andes) and 2375 km long, despite the proximity of the ocean, remains an arid bare desert, since all the moisture settles on the slopes of the mountains. At the same time, over Indonesia, Australia and the adjacent western part of the Pacific Ocean, which are under the influence of warm waters, there is a process of intense cloud formation, which determines a rainy, humid climate.

As the El Niño phenomenon develops, the situation changes. The reversal of trade winds in the opposite direction (to the east) leads to a displacement of warm water masses from the western part of the Pacific Ocean along the equator to its central and eastern parts (towards the coast of America) and, accordingly, areas of intense cloud formation and heavy precipitation. As a result, drought sets in in the Australian-Indonesian and even African regions, where the weather is usually humid and rainy, and heavy rains, floods, and landslides begin on the western coast of South and North America, which is usually dry.

In addition, during the “warm” phase of the Southern Oscillation, the atmosphere receives a huge amount of excess heat, which affects the wind patterns and the weather of vast areas of various continents. Thus, in January 1983, throughout the Western Hemisphere, due to El Niño, at an altitude of 9000 m above sea level, the positive air temperature anomaly was 2-4 o C. In November of the same year, the weather on the North American continent was 10 o C warmer norms. In the winter of 1983/84, the Sea of ​​Okhotsk practically did not freeze, and in the Tatar Strait there was fast ice only in the northern, narrowest part. In May 1983, some areas of Peru received 20 annual rainfall.

Finally, with prolonged positive surface water temperature anomalies during El Niño periods, the ocean manages to release gigantic volumes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which undoubtedly contribute to the greenhouse effect. There are no accurate quantitative estimates of such CO 2 supplies from the ocean yet. However, given the well-known examples of the superiority of the power of natural processes over human capabilities, it is difficult to abandon the assumption that the culprit of the greenhouse effect is not the person who burns fossil fuels, but the same El Niño.

Despite the apparent simplicity of the mechanisms of environmental disasters and natural phenomena associated with El Niño, scientists, unfortunately, are not yet able to warn the world about the impending disaster. As is the case with ocean fronts, large-scale currents and synoptic eddies exchanging energy and thus supporting each other, the El Niño phenomenon turns out to be a self-sustaining oscillation. Water temperature anomalies in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, for example, affect the intensity of trade winds, which control ocean currents, which in turn shape ocean surface temperature anomalies. In this cycle of phenomena, it is still not clear which of the listed mechanisms is the starting one. In the chain of events associated with El Niño, what is the cause and what is the effect?

Perhaps the hypothesis of University of Illinois (USA) professor Paul Chandler, who suggested that the El Niño process is initiated by volcanoes, will help clarify this issue. Indeed, powerful eruptions cool the latitudinal zone where they occur by releasing huge amounts of sulfur dioxide and volcanic dust into the atmosphere, blocking the access of solar radiation to the earth's surface. Thus, according to the scientist, if a volcano starts operating in high latitudes, it will increase the temperature contrast between the equator and the pole, which will lead to increased trade winds and the development of La Niña. If a powerful eruption occurred in the equatorial region, then the temperature contrast, on the contrary, will be less. Trade winds will weaken and El Niño will occur. This mechanism is confirmed by statistical calculations: one of the El Niño cycles (3.8 years) practically coincides with the frequency of low-latitude tropical eruptions (3.9 years).

Volcanic activity depends on solar activity, the cycles of which are quite well studied, and, in principle, it becomes possible to predict El Niño in the long term. However, the mathematical difficulties that arise when solving this problem force us to state that for now, predicting future catastrophes remains a matter of the future.

LITERATURE

Klimenko V.V. Global climate change: natural factors and forecast // Energy, 1993, No. 2. P. 11-16.

Nikolaev G. N. The union of the ocean and atmosphere rules the climate // Science and Life, 1998, No. 1. P. 27-33.

Ostroumov G.N. Dangerous climate shifts // Science and Life, 1997, No. 11. P. 10-16.

Sidorenko N. S. Interannual fluctuations of the atmosphere - ocean - Earth system // Priroda, 1999, No. 7. P. 26-34.

Fashchuk D. Ya. World ocean: history, geography, nature // ICC "Akademkniga", 2002, 282 p.

Fedorov K.N. This capricious baby is El Niño! // Nature, 1984, No. 8. P. 65-74.

GLOSSARY FOR THE ARTICLE

Upwelling(English "up" - top, "well" - rise of water) - a type of coastal ocean circulation, in which, under the influence of wind and the effect of the Earth's rotation (Coriolis force), the alongshore current deviates towards the sea, causing an outflow of warm surface waters and a compensatory rise in their place from the depths of cold water masses rich in mineral salts (fertilizers). There are five stable upwelling zones in the World Ocean: Californian, Peruvian (Pacific Ocean), Canary, Benguela (Atlantic) and Somali (Indian Ocean). Upwelling can cover a water column from 40 to 360 m at a rate of vertical movements of 1-2 m per day. In closed reservoirs, coastal upwelling periodically develops following winds driven from the shore.

Convection(Latin "convectio" - delivery) - a type of vertical circulation of the atmosphere and ocean waters, developing as a result of stratification (vertical temperature difference) of air and water masses (rising warmer ones and lowering colder ones).

Trade winds(German "passat" - reliable, constant) - directionally stable winds on both sides of the equator (between 30 degrees north and south latitude), which, regardless of the time of year, are north-easterly in the Northern Hemisphere, and north-east in the Southern Hemisphere southeast direction.

Countercurrent- a flow that arose for hydrodynamic reasons at the periphery of the main jet flow, in the opposite direction to it.

Thermocline- the layer of maximum vertical temperature difference in the ocean.

Southern Oscillation- the phenomenon of synchronous multidirectional changes in pressure in the Southern Hemisphere over the waters of the Pacific (Tahiti Islands) and Indian (Darwin, Australia) oceans.

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General idea El Niño is a fluctuation in the temperature of the surface layer of water in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, which has a noticeable effect on the climate. In a narrower sense, El Niño is a phase of the Southern Oscillation in which an area of ​​heated surface water moves eastward. At the same time, trade winds weaken or stop altogether, and upwelling slows down in the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Peru. The opposite phase of the oscillation is called La Niña.

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First signs of El Niño Increase in air pressure over the Indian Ocean, Indonesia and Australia. Drop in pressure over Tahiti, over the central and eastern parts of the Pacific Ocean. Weakening of trade winds in the South Pacific until they stop and the wind changes direction to the west. Warm air mass in Peru, rains in the Peruvian deserts. This is also the influence of El Nino

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The influence of El Niño on the climate of various regions In South America, the El Niño effect is most pronounced. This phenomenon typically causes warm and very humid summer periods (December to February) along the northern coast of Peru and Ecuador. When El Niño is strong, it causes severe flooding. Southern Brazil and northern Argentina also experience wetter than normal periods, but mostly in the spring and early summer. Central Chile experiences mild winters with plenty of rain, while Peru and Bolivia occasionally experience unusual winter snowfalls for the region.

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Losses and losses More than 15 years ago, when El Niño first showed its character, meteorologists had not yet connected the events of those years: droughts in India, fires in South Africa and hurricanes that swept through Hawaii and Tahiti. Later, when the reasons for these disturbances in nature became clear, the losses brought by the willfulness of the elements were calculated. But it turned out that this is not all. Let's say rains and floods are direct consequences of a natural disaster. But after them came secondary ones - for example, mosquitoes multiplied in new swamps and brought an epidemic of malaria to Colombia, Peru, India, and Sri Lanka. In Montana, people are being bitten by venomous snakes. They approached populated areas, chasing their prey - mice, and they left their settled places due to lack of water and came closer to people and to water.

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From myths to reality Meteorologists' predictions have been confirmed: catastrophic events associated with the El Niño current are hitting the earth one after another. Of course, it is very sad that all this is happening now. But still, it should be noted that for the first time humanity is encountering a global natural disaster, knowing its causes and the course of further development. The El Niño phenomenon is already quite well studied. Science has solved the mystery that plagued Peruvian fishermen. They did not understand why sometimes during the Christmas period the ocean becomes warmer and the shoals of sardines off the coast of Peru disappear. Because the arrival of warm water coincided with Christmas, the current was called El Niño, which means “baby boy” in Spanish. Fishermen, of course, are interested in the immediate reason for the departure of the sardines...

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The fish leave... ...The fact is that sardines feed on phytoplankton. And algae need sunlight and nutrients - primarily nitrogen and phosphorus. They are present in ocean water, and their supply in the upper layer is constantly replenished by vertical currents going from the bottom to the surface. But when the El Niño current turns back towards South America, its warm waters “lock” the exit of deep waters. Biogenic elements do not rise to the surface, and algae reproduction stops. The fish leave these places - they do not have enough food.

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Magellan's mistake The first European to swim across the largest ocean on the planet was Magellan. He called him "The Quiet One". As it soon became clear, Magellan was mistaken. It is in this ocean that most typhoons are born, and it produces three-quarters of the planet's clouds. Now we have also learned that the El Niño current emerging in the Pacific Ocean sometimes causes many different troubles and disasters on the planet...

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El Niño is an elongated tongue of highly heated water. It is equal in area to the United States. Heated water evaporates more intensely and “pumps” the atmosphere with energy faster. El Niño supplies it with 450 million megawatts, which is equivalent to the power of 300,000 large nuclear power plants. It is clear that this energy, according to the law of conservation of energy, does not disappear. And now in Indonesia, disaster broke out in full force. First, there was a raging drought on the island of Sumatra, then the dried-out forests began to burn. In the impenetrable smoke that enveloped the entire island, the plane crashed upon landing, and a tanker and a cargo ship collided at sea. The smoke reached Singapore and Malaysia...

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Years in which El Niño was recorded 1864, 1871, 1877-1878, 1884, 1891, 1899, 1911-1912, 1925-1926, 1939-1941, 1957-1958, 1965-1966, 1972, 1976, 198 2-1983 , 1986-1987, 1992-1993, 1997-1998. , in 1790-1793, 1828, 1876-1878, 1891, 1925-1926, 1982-1983 and 1997-1998, powerful phases of El Niño were recorded, while, for example, in 1991-1992, 1993, 1994 this phenomenon often repeating, it was weakly expressed. El Niño 1997-1998 was so strong that it attracted the attention of the world community and the press.