El Niño In Australia And Its Global Impacts

I chose El Niño because it is such a big thing and has a big impact on our lives, yet not many people even know what it is, what is causing it, what its effects are, how long it lasts or why it’s important. Since there is only a little of the El Nino effect happening in the Netherlands I thought it would be interesting to see what happens in a country like Australia, because Australia is one of the most affected countries by this natural phenomenon. I will write about how el nino effects the daily lives of people living in Australia and how el nino affects their economic, environmental and social lives and how it changes their weather and climate. What is it? El nino is the name of a warm ocean current that affects the weather on both sides of the pacific ocean, and happens every 3-7 years.

A strong El Niño can last a year or longer before the conditions return to normal again. The weather depends a lot on ocean temperatures. Where the ocean is warmer, more clouds form so more rain falls there. In the Pacific Ocean, near the equator, the Sun makes the water especially warm on the surface of the ocean. Normally, strong trade winds along the equator blow the warm, surface, ocean water near South America, west, towards Indonesia. When this happens, the cooler water on the bottom of the ocean, which hasn't been warmed but the sun, rises up toward the surface of the ocean near South America. But, sometimes the trade winds are not very strong. Sometimes they actually blow the opposite direction (toward South America instead of Indonesia). So, the warm surface ocean water along the equator piles up along the coast of South America instead of Indonesia.

How does El Nino Affect the rest of the world? La nina is the opposite of el nino where the East trade winds get stronger instead of weaker like with el nino. El Niño and La Niña warm and/or cool large areas of the Pacific ocean, a. k. a. the world’s largest ocean, which is one of the main influences for where and how much it rains. The location of moist, rising air is mainly over the central or eastern Pacific during El Niño. This movement of precipitation messes up the atmospheric circulation patterns and can affect the temperature and precipitation across the United States and other parts of the world. A strong El Niño is generally linked to wet winters over the southeastern US, as well as drought in Indonesia and Australia. El Niño commonly affects Northern Hemisphere, winter and summer climate patterns around the globe. there are no consistent impacts on North America during the summer months, while areas around the tropics and Southern Hemisphere subtropics (e. g. Australia) experience the effects of El Nino during both seasons, summer and winter. In South America, there is a drastic maximisation in the risk of flooding on the western coast, while there is an increase in the risk of droughts on parts of the eastern coast. In eastern countries, such as India and Indonesia, there is an increase in droughts. Essentially, El Niño causes vast amounts of rainfall in the eastern parts of the Pacific (the western coast of South America), and very dry weather on the western parts (India, Indonesia).

With all the extra heat on the surface of the Pacific Ocean, energy is released into the atmosphere, causing a total warming of the global climate temporarily. Years in which El Niño occurs usually create higher temperatures across the globe.

Why does El Nino happen? El nino happens because the easterly trade winds that weaken. Now, the question is, Why do they weaken? Well, Wind is the flow of air from High Pressure to Low Pressure region. So the east trade winds blow from the high pressure area (East Pacific) to the low pressure area (West Pacific), when the high pressure and the low pressure start to even out a bit more the wind weakens, causing El Nino. But it doesn't stop there. The warmer the ocean is, affects the winds--it makes the winds even weaker! So when the winds get weaker, the ocean gets warmer, which then makes the winds get even weaker, which makes the ocean get warmer e. t. c. . this is called a positive feedback, and it’s what makes an El Niño grow. After El Niño, the trade and easterly winds usually fall back into their normal cycle. Why is El Nino important to everybody? El nino not only affects the weather but also smaller things. Less rain = expensive fruit, vegetables and meat Warmer days = health impacts Hot days can increase the risk of heatstroke and dehydration, particularly in the elderly and children. Cooler nights = more frosts spring-time frosts can also have significant impacts on agriculture. Less cyclones = less damageThis means less damage from the accompanying strong winds, high seas and heavy rains. Less snow High fire danger = more bushfiresless rain and hotter days throughout winter and spring mean high fire danger in summer, which in turn leads to an increased risk of bushfires.

El Nino in Australia Reduced rainfall El Niño, means that the Australian precipitation is usually reduced through winter–spring (mainly across the east and north parts) Almost all of the driest winter and spring periods on record for eastern Australia, happened during the El Niño years. Severe droughts that happened in the past where all linked with El Niño. Decreased cloud cover increases surface heating and assists to keep rainfall low. Warmer temperatures El Nino means hotter days, less rain and more pain for the farmers over in Australia. El nino causes reduced rainfall in winter and spring in the eastern states. It also causes warmer than average daytime temperatures for the south half of the country. Wide areas of Queensland, NSW, Victoria and South Australia where and are in severe drought. When the El Niño happens, warmer-than-average temperature across most of south Australia usually happens, but mainly during the second half of the el nino year. Lessened cloud cover equals warmer-than-average daytime temperatures, especially in the spring and summer months.

Australia's warmest years all happened during an El Niño. In warmer months, El Niño can cause the “blocking” high pressure systems, making the heat extremes for cities such as Adelaide and Melbourne worse, with an increase in extreme hot days and more heat waves further up north. increased bushfire risk: El Niño droughts dry up the bush causing it to be more flammable and have led to disasters, killing a lot of people and destroying homes. 6 How does this affect the people? The warmer weather plus the low rainfall causes really bad droughts, this is a disaster for the farmers not being able to grow crops, leaving farmers struggling and questioning their futures. Seeds rely not only on rainfall but also moisture already in the soil, which carries nutrients for plant growth and regulates soil temperature. Drought has ruined big parts of eastern Australia’s crop land, which supplies about a third of the countries wheat.

Also, big parts of Australia’s crop land has been ruined and is having a major impact on livestock. How does this affect the economy in Australia?

- Businesses that depend on farming e. g. companies that make tractors and food, may lose business when drought damages farmers crops or livestock.

- Power companies that normally rely on hydroelectric power (electricity that's created from the energy of running water) may have to spend more money on other fuel sources if drought dries up too much of the water supply. The power companies' customers would also have to pay more.

- Water companies may have to spend money on new or additional water supplies.

- Barges and ships may have problems navigating through streams, rivers, and canals because of the low water levels, which will also affect businesses that depend on water transportation for receiving or sending goods and materials.

- People might have to pay more for food. How does this affect the environment in Australia?

➔ Not enough food and drinking water for wild animals

➔ Increase in disease in wild animals, because of reduced food and water supplies

➔ Increased stress on endangered species or even extinction

➔ More bushfires ➔ Bad soil quality Social impacts

● Threat to safety because of more bushfires

● People may have to move from farms into cities, or from one city to another

● Fewer recreational activities (because of the heat)

● More water activities 7 Why is it important to know about El Nino?

Was my research question and it was my aim to answer this in my essay. It is important to know about al nino because it causes such a big impact in not only your own life but also your families lives, your friends lives, El Nino effects everyone in the world, in one way or another and it is important to understand the reasons why because El Nino can become a very big problem in the future, in YOUR future with global warming interfering with everything as well. .