El Nino and La Nina: What do They Bring?

A sea lion pup droops over a human hand. The eyes are closed and the body seems like paper, foldable. The coat is not a shiny black but a sandy brown, coating much of the face and body. Holding this sea lion is a woman who is holding the pup at its underbelly. Her hands have a few traces of blood, and she looks down on the sea lion sympathetically. The sea lions eyes are closed and its mouth is open, slightly, in a solemn manner.

There was an article in the March, 1999 issue of National Geographic about El Nino and La Nina. The article discussed the cause and effects of El Nino and La Nina. The severity and disruption of the climatic cycles of the world were hot topics throughout the world during 1997-98. All scientists were discussing the possible results of El Nino and La Nina. There was a huge cry from meteorologists all over the world about what would happen because of El Nino.

How seriously this matter was taken clearly affirmed an already very well known fact, how dependant life is on weather. The National Geographic article discusses how the altered weather cycles forced several animals to find new homes.

The entire cycle of predator-prey was disrupted by a weather cycle. Several animals that changed habitats were actually the source of food for predators. As we all know, life is based on very delicate ecosystems that are interconnected in extremely complex ways. The loss of a creature or the introduction of a new one can be devastating to the entire ecosystem. The same was the case with many ecosystems because of El Nino. The scene I described in the first paragraph appeared in National Geographic along with an explanation for why the sea lion pup looked the way it did. The sea lions food sources had been driven away by the abnormally warm waters that accompany El Nino. This sea lion is among the many that have starved to death because of this weather pattern. Nursing Females usually find plentiful squid and other small fish near the surface, but these creatures swam deeper in search for cooler waters and were out of sea lion diving range. National Geographic also said that pup mortality rate is normally about 25% in 1997 it hit 70%.

We, too, are affected by this phenomenon. The wildfires in Florida were an example of how El Nino affects us. There were droughts in Texas this year also. That part of the country experienced a record heat wave. There were cases of heat exhaustion and other illnesses associated with extremely warm weather. Texas was also parched with a tremendous drought that hit farmers’ pockets hard. In Indonesia, there was a major outbreak of fires. This created a dense haze. This weather cycle also bring unusually stormy conditions to some areas. In California, this heavy rain caused severe mudslides, which put several people in harm’s way.

Date posted: February 21, 1999.

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