Unearthing El Nino: What You need To Know About El Nino

Posted by admin on 2024-04-11 10:51:02 |

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By HARRISON JEREMIAH

IN the first quarter of this year two sub-Saharan African countries, Zambia and Zimbabwe declared national emergency, drought, which is said to be one of the effects of El Nino.

Some readers might wonder what El Nino is, this article will go in depth to define, bringing out the causes and effects of El Nino as well as weather conditions associated with the climate.

According to the World Materiological Organization (WMO),
El Niño is a phenomenon whereby the warming of the Pacific Ocean interacts with the atmosphere, causing an increased risk of flooding, variable rainfall patterns, dry conditions leading to severe drought, and the potential for more intense cyclones and typhoons.

WMO also reported that, it typically happens on average every two to seven years, and episodes tend to last nine to twelve months (one year), the most recent significant El Nino event occurred in 2015-2016, which contributed to it being one of the hottest years on record. 

El Nino has its characteristics which include very extreme weather conditions, El Niño historically leads to impacts such as high rates of food insecurity due to lower crop production and yields, and already in Zimbabwe these are experienced currently.

There is also water stress and the higher risk of bush fires, for instance in countries like Indonesia and Australia changes in ocean temperature which can lead to coral bleaching and lower fish populations more diseases especially vector-borne ones, diseases transmitted by mosquitoes such as dengue fever greater global temperatures worldwide.

These are some of notable effects of El Nino to the country's economy high food prices, water stress, Infrastructure damage, flooding and other extreme weather conditions.

Southern Africa is already battling with the effects of the El Nino induced drought phenomenon and Zimbabwe has declared the 2023-2024 summer cropping season a national disaster following the El Nino-induced drought.

As per reports by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the organization and the Government of Zimbabwe through Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development (MLAFWRD) have embarked on a process to review the Zimbabwe food security situation and outlook to respond to the El Nino induced drought.

The MLAFWRD and FAO held an urgent high-level meeting in Harare Co-chaired by the Permanent Secretary, Professor Obert Jiri and Dr. Patrice Talla, FAO Sub-regional Coordinator for Southern Africa and Representative to Zimbabwe.

The main objective was to collaboratively assess the current drought situation while exploring how FAO programmes can build resilience for the country and plan for interventions in consultation and with the support from the Agriculture Ministry.

Considering that 70 percent of the population is dependent on agriculture for food and income, urgent short and long-term interventions play a key role in averting severe food insecurity and damage to livelihoods.

Reports emanating from the capital states that during the high-level meeting, both FAO and the MLAFWRD presented and reflected on the current status of the food security situation and outlook with the objective to identify synergies and areas of collaboration to assess and mitigate the risk of agricultural livelihoods degradation due to El Nino.

Leveraging on FAO’s Strategic Framework 2022 – 2031 and its work in emergencies, the meeting came at an opportune time when FAO has already embarked on a regional assessment of the impacts of El Nino in Southern Africa and Zimbabwe’s assessment will be finalized in May 2024.

These are a few different factors that contribute to the formation of El Niño,  the Walker Circulation, which is a pattern of air circulation in the Pacific Ocean.

The Walker Circulation is driven by the temperature difference between the eastern and western Pacific, when the temperature difference is smaller, the Walker Circulation weakens, which can lead to El Niño.

Another factor is the Madden-Julian Oscillation, which is a wave of atmospheric pressure that travels across the Indian and Pacific Oceans, when the Madden-Julian Oscillation coincides with a weak Walker Circulation, it can trigger an El Niño.

The phenomenon of El Niño was first observed and documented by fishermen along the coast of Peru in the early 1500s.

It wasn't until the late 1800s that the phenomenon was scientifically studied and named, around the 1890s, a scientist named Sir Gilbert Walker noticed the link between El Niño and the Walker Circulation.

He was also the first to describe the Southern Oscillation, which is now part of the name for the phenomenon, the scientific study of El Niño began in the late 1800s, but the phenomenon was observed long before that by local fishermen.

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