El Nino






Researcher: Kuchumbi Hayden
Mentor: Dr. Waldo Rodriguez
Center for Materials Research, NSU

A culmination of interactions between the ocean and the atmosphere, El Nino is the anomalous warming of the southward countercurrent of waters in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, around the western coast of Peru and Ecuador. Normally, the water of this region is cold, rich in nutrients, and flows northward. The Southern Oscillation, a change in the surface pressure between the southeastern Pacific and the western Pacific Ocean,is closely associated with El Nino. Scientists give this relationship the name ENSO, El Nino-Southern Oscillation. Usually, the surface pressure in the southeastern Pacific is much higher that the pressure in the western Pacific Ocean. This differnce in surface pressure creates a sharp pressure gradient which, facilitated by strong westward trade winds, carries water currents from east to west. During El Nino, the difference in the surface pressure between the eastern and western Pacific Ocean decreases, thus diminishing the pressure gradient, and sometimes, even switching the regions of high and low pressure in the ocean. When the surface pressure of the western Pacific Ocean becomes higher that the surface pressure in the east, water currrents move from the high pressure region to the low pressure region, from west to east. With the reduced pressure difference in the ocean come weaker trade winds that allow for the eastward movement of the water currents. The overall result is warmer than normal waters in the eastern Pacific, bringing about climatic differences both in areas around the Pacific Ocean and around the world. The worldwide effects El Nino mark the importance of study and research in this area. The eastward shift of warm waters in the Pacific Ocean bring about increased precipitation in western parts of South America and the United States and droughts in the eastern parts of Asia and Australia. Adverse effects of El Nino due to increased precipitation and droughts include flooding, property damage, brush fires, and crop failures. Careful examination of the various aspects of El Nino will enable both a deeper understanding of this phenomenon an dmore effective measures to prevent disasters. Protocol (UDP) and the Internet Protocol (IP) via the use of Unix sockets.

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