This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: The effects of El Niño are being felt globally, ranging from floods in Argentina to deadly fires in Peru and drought in French Guiana, and prompting a U.N. call for speedy action to face an unprecedented "wrecking ball" this year. El Niño warms surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, bringing worldwide changes in winds, pressure and rainfall patterns.
It typically takes place every two to seven years and lasts around nine to 12 months. The naturally occurring weather phenomenon is set to bring higher temperatures to much of the planet this year, with its impact compounding the effects of man-made climate change. "The current El Niño event could be unprecedented in strength: literally off the monitoring charts that we have used for the past four decades," said Celeste Saulo, head of the U.N.'s weather and climate agency, the World Meteorological Organization.
She and U.N. aid chief Tom Fletcher issued a joint call for "urgent and coordinated anticipatory action" to protect the most vulnerable communities already living on the edge. "We cannot stop El Niño, but we can prevent many of its worst human consequences," said Saulo. Fletcher said El Niño was a "wrecking ball" that would bring havoc to Latin America, eastern and southern Africa, Asia and the Pacific.
"The risk is you have tens of millions of people pushed into humanitarian need," he said, warning that 50 million people could face increased hunger. "From one day to the next, a meter (3.3 feet) of water rushed into my house," Juan Pablo Gomez, a resident of the northeastern Argentinian tourist town of Paso de la Patria, told AFP. The flooding linked to El Niño has claimed two lives in recent days and in some parts of the town only the rooftops of houses remain above water.
Last week, more than 2,000 people had to leave their homes in the northeast of the country due to heavy rainfall that swelled the Parana, Uruguay and Iguazu rivers, which separately border Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. "We have a huge mass of hot, dry air over the whole of Peru as a result of El Niño," biologist Daniel Valle, a professor of the Scientific University of the South in Lima, told AFP, explaining deadly fires in Peru. Valle said the flames spread quickly due to high temperatures and dry conditions caused by the weather phenomenon.
At least 12 people have died since June in forest fires that have left hundreds of disaster victims, authorities said last week. Most of the dead are farmers who suffered severe burns and asphyxiation as they tried to control the flames on their own. Discover the latest in science, tech, and space with over 100,000 subscribers who rely on Phys.org for daily insights. d research that matter—daily or weekly.
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