African deluge brings misery to 1.5m people

According to the UN yesterday, 18 of the poorest and normally driest countries in Africa, from Senegal, Mauritania, Mali and Burkina Faso in the west, to Kenya, Sudan and Ethiopia in the east, have been seriously hit by months of torrential rains which, meterologists forecast, will continue in places for many more weeks.

"We believe at least 650,000 homes have been destroyed, 1.5 million people affected and nearly 200 people so far drowned," said Elisabeth Brys, at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) in Geneva. "This is harvest time for many countries and there are already food shortages."

The rains, linked to ocean temperature changes of El Niño, have caught governments off guard. Many of the worst affected regions are remote from capitals and assessments are still being made.

Burkina Faso, Togo and Ghana have declared an official disaster and appealed for emergency international aid. More nations are expected to follow

Link to African deluge brings misery to 1.5m people | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

El Niño Southern Oscillation

What is El Niño?

The term El Niño refers to the large-scale ocean-atmosphere climate phenomenon linked to a periodic warming in sea-surface temperatures across the central and east-central equatorial Pacific (between approximately the date line and 120^oW). El Niño represents the warm phase of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle, and is sometimes referred to as a Pacific warm episode. El Niño originally referred to an annual warming of sea-surface temperatures along the west coast of tropical South America.
NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, which is part of the National Weather Service, declares the onset of an El Niño episode when the 3-month average sea-surface temperature departure exceeds 0.5^oC in the east-central equatorial Pacific [between 5^oN-5^oS and 170^oW-120^oW].
Show me strong El Niño sea-surface temperature and tropical rainfall patterns.
Show me the past El Niño and La Niña events by season.

What is La Niña?

La Niña refers to the periodic cooling of ocean surface temperatures in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific that occurs every 3 to 5 years or so. La Niña represents the cool phase of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle, and is sometimes referred to as a Pacific cold episode. La Niña originally referred to an annual cooling of ocean waters off the west coast of Peru and Ecuador.

Link to CPC - Climate Weather Linkage: El Niño Southern Oscillation

educational links

Animations

ANIMATIONS available here.

El Nino

Excellent animated guide from the GUARDIAN.

NOAA

This is the NOAA site. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, it is American but a good source of information. There is a "HOT TOPIC" section that has information on Earthquakes, El Nino, Floods, Hurricanes, Natural Hazards, Tornadoes, Tsunamis and Volcanoes.

El Nino

An article from the Independant on LA NINA

El Nino

Excellent SITE on El Nino