Peruvian Current or Humboldt Current(Spanish: Corriente de Humboldt) - a cold ocean current in the southeastern part of the Pacific Ocean; flows from south to north from the shores of Antarctica along the western shores of and.

It is a wide, slow flow, consisting of the Peruvian Oceanic and Peruvian Coastal Currents, carrying relatively cold (from +15°C to +20°C) waters of temperate latitudes at speeds of up to 0.9 km/h; has a water consumption of 15-20 million l³/sec; gives rise to South Trade Wind Current.

Alexander von Humboldt

German encyclopedist, physicist, meteorologist, geographer and naturalist, baron Alexander von Humboldt(German: Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt; 1769-1859), who traveled extensively in Latin America, discovered in 1812 that a cold deep current was moving from the polar regions towards the equator, cooling the air there.

In honor of this scientist, the Peruvian Current, which carries water along the South American coast, was also named the Humboldt Current.

Movement is life

Continuous movement is one of the characteristic features waters of the World Ocean.

Large-scale masses of water that continuously move across the oceans are called ocean or sea currents. Each of the streams moves in a certain channel and direction, which is why they are sometimes called “rivers of the oceans”: the width of the largest currents can be several hundred km, and the length can reach more than one thousand km.

Every ocean has a clearly defined cycle of currents. Interestingly, they do not move in a straight line; the direction of the currents is determined by the following factors: constant winds (trade winds) blowing on both sides of the equator from east to west; outlines of continents; bottom relief; deflecting force of the Earth's rotation.

Sea currents form There are vicious circles in the oceans. The movement of water in these circles in the Northern Hemisphere occurs clockwise, and in the Southern Hemisphere - counterclockwise: the direction of the currents is determined by the rotation of the Earth around its axis.

Warm, cold

Depending on the water temperature, ocean currents are divided into warm And cold. Warm ones arise near the equator, they carry warm waters through cold waters located near the poles, and heat the air. Cold currents are directed from the polar regions to the equator; on the contrary, they lead to a decrease in air temperature.

The largest warm sea currents include: Gulf Stream (Atlantic Ocean), Brazilian (Atlantic Ocean), Kuroshio ( Pacific Ocean), Caribbean (Atlantic Ocean), North and South Equatorial Currents (Atlantic, Pacific, Indian Oceans), Antilles (Atlantic Ocean).

The largest cold sea currents include: Peruvian (Pacific Ocean), Canary (Atlantic Ocean), Oyashio or Kuril (Pacific Ocean), East Greenland (Atlantic Ocean), Labrador (Atlantic Ocean) and California (Pacific Ocean).

Cold and warm currents come close to each other in some places, most often in temperate latitudes. As a result of the formation of an area of ​​convergence of waters with different physical properties, vortices arise. These phenomena in the ocean influence air masses, formed over the ocean, and then manifest themselves in weather conditions on land at temperate latitudes.

The influence of currents on the life of the planet

The role of ocean currents in the life of our planet can hardly be overestimated, since the movement of water flows directly affects the Earth's climate, weather, coastal flora and fauna, and marine organisms. The ocean is often compared to a titanic thermal unit driven by the energy of the Sun. This machine creates a continuous exchange of water between the deep and surface layers of the ocean, affecting the life of marine life.

This process can be traced using the example of the Peruvian Current. Thanks to the rise of deep waters, which lift dissolved phosphorus and nitrogen upward, animal and animal life successfully develops on the surface of the ocean. plant plankton, serving as food for small fish. She, in turn, becomes a victim of more large fish, birds and many marine mammals, which, with such an abundance of food, settle here, making the region one of the most productive areas of the World Ocean. Water Characteristics of the Peruvian Current- very high biological activity; This is one of the main areas for fishing, the extraction of anchovies and tuna, as well as the collection of natural fertilizer - guano.

Peruvian Current: Interesting facts

  • Global ocean currents move at speeds from 1 to 9 km/h.
  • Sea currents play a huge role in the life of our planet. They contribute to the interlatitudinal distribution of heat, water masses and living organisms, and influence the circulation of the Earth’s atmosphere and climate. Studying the current regime is necessary for navigation and proper organization fisheries
  • The currents of the World Ocean are a kind of giant air conditioner that distributes cold and warm air around globe.
  • Currently, according to international agreement, a bottle is thrown into the sea every day from special ships, in which a note is attached indicating the exact location (latitude and longitude) and time (year, day and month). And the “traveller” sets off on a voyage, sometimes a very long one. For example, a bottle abandoned in October 1820 in the South Atlantic Ocean was found in August 1821 off the coast of the English Channel. Another, abandoned off the Cape Verde Islands (May 19, 1887), was caught off the Irish coast on March 17, 1890. One of the bottles made a particularly long journey in the Pacific Ocean: abandoned off the southern coast South America. She was found in a bay in New Zealand. Thus, in 1,271 days the bottle covered a distance of 20 thousand km, i.e. an average of 9 km per day.
  • By mapping the paths taken by the bottles, experts are able to determine the trajectories and directions of currents. By noting the time when the bottle was thrown and found, they get an idea of ​​the speed of the currents.
  • In “drift bottles”, which are used to determine surface currents, add a little sand for ballast and insert a postcard or special form. The finder is asked to report the place and time of its discovery. Every year, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) releases 10–20 thousand “drifting” bottles into the sea off the east coast of the United States. As a rule, 10–11% of the postcards included in them are usually returned. The information obtained about the drift was used to compile an atlas of surface ocean currents.
  • Once every 12 years, a warm current approaches the coast of Peru, pushing aside the cold Peruvian Current. It is called “El Niño” (Spanish El Niño - “Baby”), as it usually appears at Christmas. A sharp change in temperature leads to the massive death of all forms of marine organisms, which means that fish and fish-eating birds - guano producers - die from starvation.
The Southern Oscillation and El Niño are a global ocean- atmospheric phenomenon. Being characteristic feature Pacific Ocean, El Niño and La Niña are temperature fluctuations in surface waters in the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean. The names for these phenomena, borrowed from the native Spanish and first coined in 1923 by Gilbert Thomas Volker, mean "baby" and "little one," respectively. Their influence on the climate of the southern hemisphere is difficult to overestimate. The Southern Oscillation (the atmospheric component of the phenomenon) reflects monthly or seasonal fluctuations in the difference in air pressure between the island of Tahiti and the city of Darwin in Australia.

The circulation named after Volcker is a significant aspect of the Pacific phenomenon ENSO (El Nino Southern Oscillation). ENSO is many interacting parts of one global system of ocean-atmospheric climate fluctuations that occur as a sequence of oceanic and atmospheric circulations. ENSO is the world's best known source of interannual weather and climate variability (3 to 8 years). ENSO has signatures in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

In the Pacific, during significant warm events, El Niño warms up and expands across much of the Pacific tropics and becomes directly correlated with SOI (Southern Oscillation Index) intensity. While ENSO events occur primarily between the Pacific and Indian Oceans, ENSO events in the Atlantic Ocean lag behind the former by 12 to 18 months. Most of the countries that experience ENSO events are developing ones, with economies that are heavily dependent on the agricultural and fishing sectors. New capabilities to predict the onset of ENSO events in three oceans could have global socioeconomic implications. Since ENSO is a global and natural part of the Earth's climate, it is important to know whether changes in intensity and frequency could be a result of global warming. Low frequency changes have already been detected. Interdecadal ENSO modulations may also exist.

El Niño and La Niña

Common Pacific pattern. Equatorial winds collect a warm pool of water to the west. Cold waters rise to the surface along the South American coast.

AND La Niña officially defined as long-lasting marine surface temperature anomalies greater than 0.5 °C crossing the central tropical Pacific Ocean. When a condition of +0.5 °C (-0.5 °C) is observed for a period of up to five months, it is classified as an El Niño (La Niña) condition. If the anomaly persists for five months or longer, it is classified as an El Niño (La Niña) episode. The latter occurs at irregular intervals of 2-7 years and usually lasts one or two years.
Increase in air pressure over the Indian Ocean, Indonesia and Australia.
A drop in air pressure over Tahiti and the rest of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean.
Trade winds in the South Pacific are weakening or heading east.
Warm air appears near Peru, causing rain in the deserts.
Warm water spreads from the western part of the Pacific Ocean to the eastern. It brings rain with it, causing it to occur in areas that are usually dry.

Warm El Niño current, consisting of plankton-poor tropical water and heated by its eastern outlet in the Equatorial Current, replaces the cold, plankton-rich waters of the Humboldt Current, also known as the Peruvian Current, which contains large populations of game fish. Most years, the warming lasts only a few weeks or months, after which weather patterns return to normal and fish catches increase. However, when El Niño conditions last for several months, more extensive ocean warming occurs and its economic impact on local fisheries for the external market can be severe.

The Volcker circulation is visible on the surface as easterly trade winds, which move water and air heated by the sun westward. It also creates oceanic upwelling off the coasts of Peru and Ecuador, bringing cold plankton-rich waters to the surface, increasing fish populations. The western equatorial Pacific Ocean is characterized by warm, humid weather and low atmospheric pressure. The accumulated moisture falls in the form of typhoons and storms. As a result, in this place the ocean is 60 cm higher than in its eastern part.

In the Pacific Ocean, La Niña is characterized by unusually cold temperatures in the eastern equatorial region compared to El Niño, which in turn is characterized by unusually cold temperatures in the eastern equatorial region. high temperature in the same region. Atlantic tropical cyclone activity generally increases during La Niña. A La Niña condition often occurs after an El Niño, especially when the latter is very strong.

Southern Oscillation Index (SOI)

The Southern Oscillation Index is calculated from monthly or seasonal fluctuations in the air pressure difference between Tahiti and Darwin.

Long-term negative values SOIs often signal El Niño episodes. These negative values ​​typically accompany continued warming of the central and eastern tropical Pacific, decreased strength of the Pacific trade winds, and decreased rainfall in eastern and northern Australia.

Positive values SOIs are associated with strong Pacific trade winds and warming water temperatures in northern Australia, well known as a La Niña episode. The waters of the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean become colder during this time. Together this increases the likelihood of more rainfall than normal in eastern and northern Australia.

El Niño influence

As El Niño's warm waters fuel storms, it creates increased precipitation in the east-central and eastern Pacific Ocean.

In South America, the El Niño effect is more pronounced than in North America. El Niño is associated with warm and very wet summer periods (December-February) along the coast of northern Peru and Ecuador, causing severe flooding whenever the event is severe. The effects during February, March, April may become critical. Southern Brazil and northern Argentina also experience wetter than normal conditions, but mainly during the spring and early summer. The central region of Chile receives mild winter with a lot of rain, and the Peruvian-Bolivian Plateau sometimes experiences winter snowfalls unusual for this region. Drier and warm weather observed in the Amazon Basin, Colombia and Central America.

Direct effects of El Niño leading to decreased humidity in Indonesia, increasing the likelihood of forest fires, in the Philippines and northern Australia. Also in June-August, dry weather is observed in the regions of Australia: Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales and eastern Tasmania.

The western Antarctic Peninsula, Ross Land, Bellingshausen and Amundsen seas are covered with large amounts of snow and ice during El Niño. The latter two and the Wedell Sea become warmer and are under higher atmospheric pressure.

In North America, winters are generally warmer than normal in the Midwest and Canada, while central and southern California, northwestern Mexico and the southeastern United States are getting wetter. The Pacific Northwest states, in other words, dry out during El Niño. Conversely, during La Niña, the US Midwest dries out. El Niño is also associated with decreased hurricane activity in the Atlantic.

Eastern Africa, including Kenya, Tanzania and the White Nile Basin, experiences long periods of rain from March to May. Droughts plague southern and central Africa from December to February, mainly Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Botswana.

Warm Pool of the Western Hemisphere. A study of climate data showed that approximately half of the post-El Niño summers experienced unusual warming in the Western Hemisphere Warm Pool. This influences the weather in the region and appears to have a connection to the North Atlantic Oscillation.

Atlantic effect. An El Niño-like effect is sometimes observed in the Atlantic Ocean, where water along the equatorial African coast becomes warmer and water off the coast of Brazil becomes colder. This can be attributed to the Volcker circulation over South America.

Non-climatic effects of El Niño

Along the eastern coast of South America El Niño reduces the upwelling of cold, plankton-rich water that supports large fish populations, which in turn maintain abundance seabirds, whose droppings support the fertilizer industry.

Local fishing industries along coastlines may experience shortages of fish during prolonged El Niño events. The world's largest fisheries collapse due to overfishing, which occurred in 1972 during El Niño, led to a decline in the Peruvian anchovy population. During the events of 1982-83, populations of southern horse mackerel and anchovies declined. Although the number of shells in warm water increased, hake went deeper into cold water, and shrimp and sardines went south. But the catch of some other fish species was increased, for example, the common horse mackerel increased its population during warm events.

Changing locations and types of fish due to changing conditions have presented challenges for the fishing industry. The Peruvian sardine has moved towards the Chilean coast due to El Niño. Other conditions have only led to further complications, such as the Chilean government creating fishing restrictions in 1991.

It is postulated that El Niño led to the extinction of the Indian Mochico tribe and other tribes of the pre-Columbian Peruvian culture.

Causes that give rise to El Niño

The mechanisms that may cause El Niño events are still being researched. It is difficult to find patterns that can reveal causes or allow predictions to be made.
Bjerknes suggested in 1969 that abnormal warming in the eastern Pacific Ocean could be attenuated by east-west temperature differences, causing weakening in the Volcker circulation and trade winds that move warm water westward. The result is an increase in warm water to the east.
Virtky in 1975 suggested that the trade winds could create a westerly bulge of warm waters, and any weakening of the winds could allow warm waters to move east. However, no bulges were noticed on the eve of the events of 1982-83.
Rechargeable Oscillator: Some mechanisms have been proposed that when warm areas are created in the equatorial region, they are dissipated to higher latitudes through El Niño events. The cooled areas are then recharged with heat for several years before the next event occurs.
Western Pacific Oscillator: In the western Pacific Ocean, several weather conditions could cause easterly wind anomalies. For example, a cyclone in the north and an anticyclone in the south result in an easterly wind between them. Such patterns can interact with the westerly flow across the Pacific Ocean and create a tendency for the flow to continue eastward. A weakening of the westerly current at this time may be the final trigger.
The equatorial Pacific Ocean can lead to El Niño-like conditions with a few random variations in behavior. External weather patterns or volcanic activity can be such factors.
The Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) is a critical source of variability that can contribute to the sharper evolution leading to El Niño conditions through fluctuations in the winds blowing on low levels, and precipitation over the western and central Pacific Ocean. The eastward propagation of oceanic Kelvin waves may be caused by MJO activity.

History of El Niño

The first mention of the term "El Niño" dates back to 1892, when Captain Camilo Carrilo reported at a congress Geographical Society in Lima that Peruvian sailors called the warm northerly current "El Niño" because it is most noticeable around Christmas. However, even then the phenomenon was interesting only because of its biological impact on the efficiency of the fertilizer industry.

Normal conditions along the western Peruvian coast are a cold southerly current (Peruvian Current) with upwelling water; plankton upwelling leads to active ocean productivity; cold currents lead to a very dry climate on earth. Similar conditions exist everywhere (California Current, Bengal Current). So replacing it with a warm northern current leads to a decrease in biological activity in the ocean and to heavy rains leading to flooding on land. The connection with flooding was reported in 1895 by Pezet and Eguiguren.

Towards the end of the nineteenth century there was increased interest in predicting climate anomalies (for food production) in India and Australia. Charles Todd suggested in 1893 that droughts in India and Australia occur at the same time. Norman Lockyer pointed out the same thing in 1904. In 1924, Gilbert Volcker first coined the term "Southern Oscillation."

For most of the twentieth century, El Niño was considered a large local phenomenon.

The Great El Niño of 1982-83 led to a sharp rise in the interest of the scientific community in this phenomenon.

History of the phenomenon

ENSO conditions have occurred every 2 to 7 years for at least the last 300 years, but most of them have been weak.

Major ENSO events occurred in 1790–93, 1828, 1876–78, 1891, 1925–26, 1982–83, and 1997–98.

The most recent El Niño events occurred in 1986-1987, 1991-1992, 1993, 1994, 1997-1998 and 2002-2003.

The 1997–1998 El Niño in particular was strong and brought international attention to the phenomenon, while what was unusual about the 1990–1994 period was that El Niño occurred very frequently (but mostly weakly).

El Niño in the history of civilization

The mysterious disappearance of the Mayan civilization in Central America could be caused by severe climate changes. This conclusion was reached by a group of researchers from the German National Center for Geosciences, writes the British newspaper The Times.

Scientists tried to establish why, at the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries AD, at opposite ends of the earth, the two largest civilizations of that time ceased to exist almost simultaneously. We are talking about the Mayans 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, at this time, apparently, the rainy season was not able to provide enough moisture for the development of agriculture.

The ensuing drought and subsequent famine led to the decline of these civilizations, researchers believe. They link climate change to natural phenomenon"El Niño", which means temperature fluctuations surface waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean in tropical latitudes. This leads to large-scale disturbances in atmospheric circulation, causing droughts in traditionally wet regions and floods in dry ones.

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.

Thu, 06/13/2013 - 20:25

The circulation of the Pacific Ocean waters consists of two anticyclonic gyres. The Northern Gyre includes currents: the North Equatorial, Mindanao and Kuro-sio, the North Pacific and California. The Southern Gyre consists of currents: part of the Antarctic Circumpolar, Peruvian (Cromwell), South Equatorial and East Australian. These gyres are separated by the Equatorial (inter-trade wind) countercurrent. Its border with the South Equatorial Current is an equatorial front that blocks the warm water of the Equatorial Countercurrent from reaching the coasts of Ecuador and Peru. Upwelling is developed here, ensuring high productivity of coastal waters. In the case of El Nino, a warm anomaly occurs that moves east

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.

One of the destructive natural phenomena, accompanied by numerous human casualties and colossal material losses - 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°C, fish disappear and birds die, and protracted periods begin. heavy rains. 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 referred to as only 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 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 wind countercurrent, an equatorial front is formed, preventing the flow of warm countercurrent waters to the coast 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, he provides high level 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. So, for example, in 1982...1983, during the period of the most intense El Niño over the 130-year period of observations, this phenomenon began in September 1982 and lasted until August 1983.

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EL NINO CURRENT

EL NINO CURRENT, a warm surface current that sometimes (after about 7-11 years) arises in the equatorial Pacific Ocean and heads towards the South American coast. It is believed that the occurrence of the current is associated with irregular fluctuations in weather conditions on the globe. The name is given to the current from the Spanish word for the Christ child, as it most often occurs around Christmas. The flow of warm water is preventing plankton-rich cold water from rising to the surface from the Antarctic off the coast of Peru and Chile. As a result, fish are not sent to these areas to feed, and local fishermen are left without a catch. El Niño can also have more far-reaching, sometimes catastrophic, consequences. Its occurrence is associated with short-term fluctuations in climatic conditions around the world; possible drought in Australia and other places, floods and harsh winters in North America, stormy tropical cyclones in the Pacific Ocean.

The combined influence of land, sea and air on weather conditions sets a certain rhythm of climate change on a global scale. For example, in the Pacific Ocean (A), winds typically blow from east to west (1) along the equator, -pulling- solar-heated surface layers of water into the basin north of Australia and thereby lowering the thermocline - the boundary between warm surface layers and cooler deeper layers water (2). Over these warm waters, tall cumulus clouds form and produce rain throughout the summer wet season (3). Cooler waters rich in food resources come to the surface off the coast of South America (4), large schools of fish (anchovy) flock to them, and this, in turn, is based on a developed fishing system. The weather over these cold water areas is dry. Every 3-5 years, changes occur in the interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere. The climate pattern is reversed (B) - this phenomenon is called "El Niño". Trade winds either weaken or reverse their direction (5), and warm surface waters that have been “accumulating” in the western Pacific Ocean flow back, and the water temperature off the coast of South America rises by 2-3°C (6) . As a result, the thermocline (temperature gradient) decreases (7), and all this greatly affects the climate. In the year when El Niño occurs, droughts and forest fires rage in Australia, and floods in Bolivia and Peru. Warm waters off the coast of South America are pushing deeper into the layers of cold water that support plankton, causing the fishing industry to suffer.


Scientific and technical encyclopedic dictionary.

See what “EL NINO CURRENT” is in other dictionaries:

    The Southern Oscillation and El Niño (Spanish: El Niño Baby, Boy) is a global ocean-atmospheric phenomenon. As a characteristic feature of the Pacific Ocean, El Niño and La Niña (Spanish: La Niña Baby, Girl) are temperature fluctuations... ... Wikipedia

    Not to be confused with Columbus's La Niña caravel. El Niño (Spanish: El Niño Baby, Boy) or Southern Oscillation (English: El Niño/La Niña Southern Oscillation, ENSO) fluctuation in the temperature of the surface layer of water in ... ... Wikipedia

    - (El Niño), a warm seasonal surface current in the eastern Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Ecuador and Peru. It develops sporadically in summer when cyclones pass near the equator. * * * EL NINO EL NINO (Spanish: El Nino “Christ Child”), warm... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

    Warm surface seasonal current in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of South America. It appears once every three or seven years after the disappearance of the cold current and lasts for at least a year. Usually originates in December, closer to the Christmas holidays,... ... Geographical encyclopedia

    - (El Nino) warm seasonal surface current in the eastern Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Ecuador and Peru. It develops sporadically in the summer when cyclones pass near the equator... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

    El Niño- Anomalous warming of ocean water off the west coast of South America, replacing the cold Humboldt Current, which brings heavy rainfall to the coastal areas of Peru and Chile and occurs from time to time as a result of the influence of southeastern... ... Dictionary of Geography

    - (El Nino) warm seasonal current of surface waters of low salinity in the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean. Distributed in the summer of the Southern Hemisphere along the coast of Ecuador from the equator to 5 7° S. w. In some years, E.N. intensifies and... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

    El Niño- (El Niňo)El Nino, a complex climatic phenomenon that occurs irregularly in the equatorial latitudes of the Pacific Ocean. Name E. N. initially referred to the warm ocean current, which annually, usually at the end of December, approaches the shores of the northern... ... Countries of the world. Dictionary

Doctor 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 disaster (18 deg. south latitude) 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 life 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. While exploring the nature of monsoon winds in South and Southeast Asia, Walker analyzed atmospheric pressure anomalies in subtropical zone 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 just recently the assumption was confirmed.

PLANET-YULA ROCKS THE OCEAN

Oceanic and meteorological processes and the cause-and-effect 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 in relation 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, the upwelling is destroyed, the productivity of coastal waters drops sharply, and mass death anchovies from hunger 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 philosophers Ancient Rome and Greece, the best motto for environmental research is “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 from floods, droughts and other natural Disasters More than two thousand people died, and material losses amounted to more than 13 billion US dollars. 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, in the Australian-Indonesian and even African regions, where it is usually humid rainy weather, drought sets in, and on the west coast of South and North America, usually dry, heavy rains, floods, and landslides begin.

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, considering famous examples 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 due to the release into the atmosphere of a huge amount of sulfur dioxide and volcanic dust, blocking the access of solar radiation to 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 northeasterly in the Northern Hemisphere, and northeastern 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.