"The importance of El Nino"

“El Nino”

El Niño is a quasi-periodic climate pattern that occurs across the tropical Pacific Ocean with on average five year intervals. It is characterized by changes in the temperature of the surface of the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean causing warming or cooling creating extreme weathers such as floods, droughts and other weather disturbances in many regions of the world. Developing countries such as Belize are dependent upon agriculture and fishing.  The term "El Niño" the 'Christ Child' in Spanish was originally used by fishermen on the coasts of Peru and Ecuador to refer to an unusually warm ocean current that appears around Christmas time, and prevails for several months. However, for some years the current becomes unusually warm and suspends the fishing season until May, and sometimes June.

Hereby, some of its causes are the occasional development of a warm ocean current along the Peru Coast as temporary replacement of the cold Peru Current which normally flows in this region. Under normal circumstances the air pressure over the cold waters off the coast of Peru is quite high. Nevertheless, over the warm tropical waters of the western pacific, air pressure is normally low. The difference in air pressure creates airflow from east to west creating the trade winds which push sun-warmed surface waters westward and exposing cold water to the surface in the east. During El Niño, the easterly trade winds collapse or even reverse due to a change in air pressure. The low pressure over the west is trading places with the high pressure normally prevalent in the eastern pacific. As this happens, the wet weather conditions normally present over the western Pacific moves to the east, and the barren conditions of the Peruvian coast appear in the west.   The Western Caribbean region encompasses some of the largest islands in the Caribbean, including the mainland of Central America from Mexico to Columbia, and the island of Cuba and includes tracts specific to Mexico, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama, Columbia and Ecuador, Cuba, Jamaica, Cayman Islands. It is also home to considerable and significant areas of coral reef. The region is also severely impacted by extreme weather conditions linked to El Nino, which can cause excessive warming which leads to widespread coral bleaching and subsequent mortality, causing local extinctions of particular species. The frequent occurrence of such weather related events also helps to explain the lack of more extensive reef development in the region.

One of the strongest naturally occurring environmental impacts on the coral reefs of Belize has been hurricane damage. For instance, Glover's has been affected by the global problem of coral bleaching, the process in which stressed coral polyps discharge their symbiotic algae. In addition, the worldwide bleaching event, intensified by El Niño, caused a 20 percent mortality rate at Glover's and in 1998, Hurricane Mitch, which stalled off the coast of Belize for several days, caused major damage to vast areas of the reef.  El Niño has increased algae growth, lower abundance of reef fish, and reduced herbivory seem to impact the survival and abundance of certain coral types.   During El Nino’s weaker climate patterns it has caused temperatures to rise. Hence, the cause of windstorms, heat waves, and droughts, storms with extreme rain, snow, and dust storms.  Also, it is the result of increased forest fires. Dry and dying trees are a set-up for forest fires. Forest fires release greenhouse gases and destroy the trees that can absorb CO₂ from the air. El Nino has been destruction not only to the food chains but has also created pollution destroying the ozone layer.