Dr. Sandra L. Cruz-Pol

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Module El Niño event and the Ocean Surface
Permittivity

• Dr. Sandra L. Cruz-Pol
• INEL 4152
• Electrical and Computer Dept.
• Univ. of Puerto Rico

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Remote Sensing of land/sea
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Passive Remote Sensing
Radiometer measures natural radiation from
atmosphere ocean below.

• Applications
• Wind speed retrieval
• Wave height monitoring
• Sea Temperature (El Niño)
• Global change

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Emissions and Reflections from the Ocean

• Ocean Emissivity
• Ocean Reflectivity
• where e is the ocean permittivity

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Permittivity of Sea Water, e

• The permittivity of sea water is a function of
• frequency
• temperature
• salinity

CR
CI
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Case Study El Niño
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El Niño first noticed by Peruvian fishermen who
gave the name since the warm air arrived near
Christmas summer (El Niño Dios visitando)
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Monitoring El Niño
ATLAS buoys are deployed and used to record sea
surface temperature and wind speed along the
Pacific Ocean and send information through
satellite.
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Twin El Niño -Indian Ocean
Nearly all the elephants in Botswanas Chobe
National Park died during a drought brought on
by the 1982-83 El Niño.
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Bleached Coral Reefs
Corals are extremely sensitive to changes in
their environment. When they die, their color
disappears. El Niño events correlate with Pacific
and Caribbean-wide coral bleaching.
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Severe Drought SE Asia, Australia, Caribbean and
CA
El Niño takes away the rain normally present
during Australias summer which put down
natural and manmade fires.
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Disease Connection cholera, typhoid, malaria,
encephalitis, dengue
Unbalance in ecosystems brings conditions that
increase amounts of mosquitoes and mice.
Flooding in Brazilian rain forest.
Dessert bloom and provide food to
hantavirus-carrying mice.
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Hurricanes

• The number of hurricanes in the Caribbean is
  noticeably reduced because of the increased wind
  shear in different height layers of atmosphere
  which doesnt allow the formation of many storms.
• During La Niña, the number of hurricanes
  increases, the jet stream goes North, affecting
  U.S. more than the Caribbean.

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La Niña
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Endangered species
Marine iguanas in the Galapagos usually eat
red algae. Red algae died due to high water
temperatures. More than half of the iguanas died
during the 1982-83 El Niño.
Magellanic penguins, which live in the coastal
waters of Peru and Chile, went hungry when the
fish disappeared.
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The Galapagos island sea lion went hungry.
Mother spend too much time on sea looking for
food, and pups didnt get enough milk. Males
dont eat for several weeks during mating season.
When back at sea, many didnt find food to make
it.
Sea birds which depend on fish are directly
affected by this changes. The California least
tern is an endangered species. In 1988 they began
to recover from 1982 Niño.
Alaskan Red Fox lives on sea birds that are not
abundant during El Niño.
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Benefits of El Niño Prediction

• Prepared for heavy rain followed by drought
• Now countries are measurements of precaution when
  an event is forecast.
• Water supplies
• 85 chance of La Niña following year.
• produced exceptionally mild winter in NE of US.
  saving

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Flooding in SW of US
Bulldozers were used to build dikes of sand on
Santa Monica beach in California to protect
buildings from unusually large waves expected
from 1997-98 El Niño storms.
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Farming cotton vs. rice
Benefits from El Niño forecast in Peru
include the decision on whether to plant rice or
cotton. Rice plants need moist to grow. (El
Niño) Cotton plants need warm dry climate. (La
Niña)
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Summary of Effects

• Flooding in SW of US
• Severe Drought SE Asia, Australia
• Poor fishery E of America
• Bleached Coral Reefs
• Disease Connection cholera, typhoid, malaria,
  encephalitis
• Farming cotton vs. rice

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Bad Niño

• Lives lost, 189 including tornadoes, ice storm,
  snow and rainstorms, drowned.
• Property losses in storms, 2.8 billion.
• Federal government relief, 400 million.
• State assistance, 125 million.
• Agricultural losses, 600 million to 700
  million.
• Lost sales in snow removal equipment, 60 million
  to 80 million.
• Tourist industry losses, 180 million to 200
  million.

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Good Niño

• Lives saved 848, including those who survived
  extreme cold, snow and ice storms, did not die in
  winter-related auto accidents and who were not
  killed by hurricanes, compared to recent normal
  years.
• Reduced heating costs, 6.7 billion.
• Increased sales of merchandise for homes and
  other goods, 5.6 billion as warm weather sent
  people to the stores to post a January-March
  retail sales record.
• Reduced costs of removal of ice and snow from
  streets, 350 million to 400 million.
• Reductions in normal losses to flooding caused
  by melting snow and Atlantic hurricanes, 6.9
  billion.
• Income from increased construction and related
  employment, 450 million to 500 million.
• Reduced operating costs to airlines and trucking
  industry, 160 million to170 million.

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References

• NOAA (http//www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/elnino)
• El Niño by Caroline Arnold
• A new 2002 El Niño is underway!
  http//www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/vis/tao-vis.html
• American Meteorological Society
• The Associated Press

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http//www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/vis/tao-vis.html