The Hindu Business Line : Is India having an El Nino summer?

The signs of El Nino phenomenon taking place this year became obvious as early as March, with US experts reporting that surface temperatures of the Pacific Ocean warmed 2 degrees C in February.

CHENNAI, May 23

IS the current heat wave persisting over the east coast of the country, central India and Rajasthan, linked to the El Nino phenomenon being experienced globally?

Though experts have not yet worked out the linkage between the Indian and the global phenomenon, many people remember that the last time such a heat wave existed was during the El Nino year of 1997-98.

Officials of the Meteorological Department say such high temperatures are nothing unusual and have happened quite a few times in the past. For instance, Chennai has had instances of temperatures reaching close to 43 degrees C almost every year.

In a list of decadal highs since the 1940s, the city touched 43.3 degrees C in 1948, 42.7 degrees C in 1953, 43.3 degrees C in 1964, 44.3 degrees C in 1980, 43.4 degrees C in 1988 and 44 degrees C in 1998.

Officials say the present condition is due to the summer sun heating the landmass over the subcontinent and the winds from the west and north-west carrying this to the coast. For the situation to change, either the land has to be cooled with rain or the wind directions have to change.

However, though the experts have not yet come with a final word, the common people seem to notice that the country is going through a heat wave during an El Nino year. The signs of El Nino phenomenon taking place this year became obvious as early as March, with experts from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reporting that surface temperatures of the Pacific Ocean near the South American coast warmed 4 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees C) in February.

An El Nino occurs when the ocean-atmosphere system in the tropical Pacific Ocean is disrupted. Normally, trade winds blow toward the west across the tropical Pacific Ocean, piling up warm surface water in the west Pacific.

In a classic El Nino, the trade winds (flowing from the west to east over the Pacific) relax in the central and western parts of the ocean, leaving warm water in the east Pacific. Heavy rainfall follows the warm water eastward, leading to flooding in Peru and California, among other places. Meanwhile, areas far to the west, such as Indonesia and Australia, suffer droughts.

Though a phenomenon that takes place in the Pacific Ocean, El Nino is known to have climatic repercussions world over. The eight-month El Nino in 1997-98 disrupted weather patterns all over the world, killed more than 2,000 people and caused damage up to $33 billion. It caused floods in Peru, drought followed by forest fires in Sumatra, Borneo and Malaysia.

El Nino, which in Spanish means Christ child, is usually followed by La Nina (Spanish for little girl), where the effects of El Nino are reversed.

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