A parched paddy field, blamed on Rl Nino, in Merlebau village near Kota Marudu on the Malaysian eastern state of Sabah in Borneo island. (David Loh/Reuters)From Times Online:
El Niño, the warming of the Pacific Ocean that creates chaos in global weather patterns, is on its way back, threatening droughts, floods, crop failure and social unrest.
According to scientists at America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a new bout of El Niño is under way as the surface of tropical waters across the eastern Pacific has warmed roughly 1C (1.8F) above normal and is still rising.
Further down, some 150 meters (500ft) below the surface, the waters are heating up — by around 4C (7.2F).
These indications have been emerging for about the past month from satellite pictures and an array of robotic buoys strung out across the Pacific. “The persistently warm sea temperatures are important indicators of an El Niño,” Mike Halpert, of NOAA’s Climate Prediction Centre, said.
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1 comment:
It's interesting how much of a love/hate relationship the world has with El Nino. Here's a video clip with comments from both a California and a Australian reporter on how their country feels about El Nino: http://www.newsy.com/videos/el_nino_between_love_and_hate
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