What are El Ni?o conditions? What impact will it have on our lives?

Hot, hot, hot! The frequent occurrence of El Ni?o phenomenon has attracted widespread attention. We always associate it with extreme weather. So what is El Ni?o? How does El Ni?o form? What impact does El Ni?o have on global climate? What is the expected intensity and impact of this round of El Ni?o? With these questions, let us look down.

1. What is El Ni?o?

"El Ni?o" is the Spanish transliteration. It is not a weather phenomenon, but a climate phenomenon that generally lasts for 9-12 months. "El Ni?o" events will have an impact on global climate, and their development has a 2-7 year cycle. Generally, if the sea surface temperature in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean continues to be abnormally warm and reaches or exceeds 0.5°C for at least 5 months, it can be determined to be an El Ni?o event.

2. El Ni?o phenomenon

The United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO) issued a statement on July 4 stating that the El Ni?o phenomenon appeared in the tropical Pacific for the first time in seven years.

Imagine how subtle changes in sea water can change our world! El Ni?o sweeps across the planet by changing the exchange of heat between the global ocean and atmospheric systems. This leads to many surprising phenomena and effects.

First of all, El Ni?o makes areas that were originally wet become dry, and areas that were originally dry become wet. For example, El Ni?o can cause droughts in the western United States and Australia and cause flooding in places like Peru.

Secondly, El Ni?o also has a huge impact on global fisheries and agriculture. Due to changes in the marine environment, the habitats of fish and plankton have also changed, leading to changes in fishery resources. Crops are also affected by droughts or floods caused by El Ni?o, with yields fluctuating significantly.

●The southeast trade wind weakens, causing the cold water flooding in the Pacific to decrease or stop, resulting in a large-scale abnormal warming of sea water temperatures. This caused abnormalities in traditional equatorial ocean currents and atmospheric circulation, causing abnormal precipitation in some areas along the Pacific coast and severe drought in other places.

●Causes include slowing down of the earth's rotation, volcanic activity and global warming.

Finally, El Ni?o also has an indirect impact on global climate change. It changes global average temperatures, precipitation, and wind strength and direction. These changes have profound effects on the environment and the balance of ecosystems.

3. What impact will El Ni?o have on us?

1. In terms of temperature

The National Climate Center analyzed historical data and found that in the summer of El Ni?o development years, temperatures in southern North China, northern Central China, central East China, and eastern Northwest China tend to be higher. , the number of high temperature days in some areas can reach more than 30 days.

In view of possible periodic high temperature heat waves, high temperature weather may lead to heat stroke and heat stroke, and the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases will also increase. It is recommended that the public wear sun protection when going out, and people working outdoors try to avoid working during periods of direct sunlight. It is necessary to seize favorable weather opportunities to carry out artificial rainfall enhancement operations in a timely manner, strengthen water storage and conservation work in Tangba Reservoir, and actively divert and lift water to fight drought.

2. Precipitation

In summer during the development of El Ni?o, the western Pacific subtropical high tends to be stronger and southerly, resulting in more precipitation in southern my country. The recent frequent heavy rainfall in Jiangnan, South China and other places is one of the manifestations of the impact of El Ni?o.

After the occurrence of El Ni?o, eastern my country is likely to have a precipitation distribution pattern of "less in the north and more in the south" in autumn and winter. Waterlogging in southern cities is prominent, and the probability of a "warm winter" increases; in the north, precipitation is less and drought is prone to occur. For example, in 2002, there were consecutive summer and autumn droughts in parts of North China and the Huanghuai River, in 2006 there was a large-scale autumn drought in central and eastern China, and in the autumn of 2018, there were periodic droughts in the Huanghuai, Jianghuai and other places.

According to the forecast of the National Climate Center, under the background of the strengthening of El Ni?o, it is expected that in the summer of 2023, the precipitation in southeastern China, southern central China, and the south of southwest China will be prone to excess, and the risk of floods will be high; the eastern part of northwest China will be prone to rainfall. If it is less, the possibility of meteorological drought is high.

The factors currently affecting climate anomalies, especially high temperatures, droughts, floods, etc., are complex and extreme events, and El Ni?o is only one of the important factors. We can prepare in advance and pay attention to the latest weather information. If disastrous weather does come, we must also learn to scientifically rescue ourselves to minimize losses.