Describe El Nino and La Nina

El Nino refers to events related with a warming of eastern and central tropical Pacific, and La Nina refers to events reverse o El Niño, whereby there occurs sustained cooling of the same areas. Notably, the changes take place in the Pacific Ocean, and the atmosphere around in a cycle called the El Nino- Southern Oscillation (ENSO)

El Nino Effects

Warming of tropical ocean region El Nino 2015-2016 especially in the Horn of Africa, Southern and eastern Africa, Asia-pacific region, Caribbean and Latin America has caused terrible drought resulting to flooding, food insecurity, rains and temperature increase due El Nino causing health problems such as malnutrition, disease outbreaks, respiratory diseases and heat stress.

1. b) What were the average global temperatures during 2014,2015,2016,2017 and 2018? How many degrees above normal

Notably, temperature of both ocean and land has been on the rise for every decade since 1880, but the period between 2014 to 2016 has recorded exceptionally high temperature. 2016 recorded +0.94⁰C above average, while 2015 recorded +0.90⁰C above average. During 2017 the average global temperature of both ocean and land was 0.84⁰C. Also 2017 El Nino in the tropical Pacific regions was absent but was recorded as the warmest year. Generally, 2014-2016 has broken record five times in the 21^st century

El Nino and Global warming – is there a connection? Do you believe in climate change? Please discuss the climate change controversy.

There is a clear connection between global warming and El Nino.  Nevertheless, the Southern Oscillation Index reflects a short term trend while temperature recorded shows a long term global warming trend. Therefore, the connection between El Nino and global warming is weak.

The climate change controversy is due to the correlation of global warming and El Nino in the sense that the long term effect of global warming cannot be explained fully.

Response

The idea of El Nino and global warming has been a subject of debate in many platforms national and global. However, the issues are quite complex and require technical know and long-term research to identify the causes and correlates. Generally, the effects of  El Nino and global warming on climate change is significant and must be addressed.

References

El Niño affects more than 60 million people. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.who.int/en/news-room/feature-stories/detail/el-ni%c3%b1o-affects-more-than-60-million-people

How Will Global Warming Affect El Niño in The 21st Century? – Research Stash. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.researchstash.com/2019/01/31/how-will-global-warming-affect-el-nino-in-the-21st-century/