El Nino

1
El Nino La Nina

• Normal Year
• warm moist air rises over the western Pacific
  (Australasia) heavy rainfall
• dry air descends over the eastern Pacific (Peru)
  creates deserts
• the trade winds blow west
• surface ocean currents travel west
• Result
• the trade winds and the ocean currents create a
  build up of water in the western Pacific near
  Australia
• this build up begins to push back, reversing the
  direction of the ocean currents and the trade
  winds
• El Niño
• warm moist air rises over the eastern Pacific
  (Peru) heavy rainfall
• dry air descends over the western Pacific
  (Australasia) creates deserts
• the trade winds blow east
• surface ocean currents travel east
• Effects
• Peru fish depend on nutrients from cold current
  upwelling. This current is stopped, so fish die,
  and so do the animals that live on the fish.
  Fishing industry collapses.