hottest days - EL NINO

 the global average daily temperature crossed the 17 degree Celsius mark. That record was broken within a day, with July 4 turning out to be even hotter.

The average temperature on July 3 was measured to be 17.01 degree Celsius. The next day recorded 17.18 degree Celsius.

Scientists expect more such record-breaking events in the near future.

Earth records hottest day ever: Causes, what lies ahead

But 17 degree Celsius is not hot

A 17 degree Celsius temperature may not appear to be particularly warm. But this temperature was not over any one place or region. Instead, this is a measure of the global average temperature for the day, the average over both land and ocean, including the ice sheets in the polar region and the snow of the high mountains where surface temperatures are well below zero degree Celsius.

El Nino impact

It is no surprise that the latest record-breaking event has also been measured when an El Nino is developing.

On Tuesday, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) announced the formal onset of the El Nino phase in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean and warned that this could lead to further increases in temperature this year.

El Nino, an abnormal warming of sea surface waters in the Pacific, off the northwestern coast of South America, is a large-scale climate driver known to have an overall warming effect on the planet.

Incredibly warm year

With the end of a strong La Nina phase that had subdued the global rise in temperatures for the past two years, 2023, right from its start, was predicted to be extremely hot. And the predictions have not been off the mark.


EL NINO  AND LA-NINA

During normal conditions in the Pacific ocean, trade winds blow west along the equator, taking warm water from South America towards Asia. To replace that warm water, cold water rises from the depths — a process called upwelling. El Niño and La Niña are two opposing climate patterns that break these normal conditions. Scientists call these phenomena the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle. El Niño and La Niña can both have global impacts on weather, wildfires, ecosystems, and economies. Episodes of El Niño and La Niña typically last nine to 12 months, but can sometimes last for years. El Niño and La Niña events occur every two to seven years, on average, but they don’t occur on a regular schedule. Generally, El Niño occurs more frequently than La Niña.

 El Niño

However, in the fall and winter of some years, these winds are much weaker than usual. They actually blow the other way (toward South America instead of Indonesia) in October. So the warm surface water along the equator piles up along the coast of South America and then moves north towards California and south toward Chile.

Many fish that live in the normally cooler waters off the coast of South America move away or die. The fishermen call this condition of warm coastal waters and poor fishing "El Niño" meaning "the Christ Child," because in the occasional years it comes, it comes at Christmas time 

In El Niño years, lots of rain clouds forms over this warm part of the ocean. These clouds move inland and dump much more rain than usual in South and Central America and in the United States. Meanwhile, other parts of the world can suffer drought. Weather patterns all over the world may be unusual, making lakes out of deserts and charcoal heaps out of rain forests.

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