- Published
El Niño has been strengthening for several months now and is already having a significant impact on global weather patterns.
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Niño → publish → patterns
Countries including Indonesia, India and the United States have been experiencing droughts, floods and heatwaves in line with projections about how extreme weather events will be supercharged by the phenomenon.
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events → include → phenomenon
The World Meteorological Agency says the record-breaking El Niño will strengthen further and persist until at least 2027.
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Niño → say → 2027
Here are five ways its impact is already being felt around the world.
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impact → feel → world
Indonesia battles worst wildfire season since 2015
Indonesia, which typically trends drier and hotter in El Niño years, is battling its worst wildfire season since 2015.
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which → battle → 2015
This year, since January, at least 895,657 hectares of land – nearly six times the size of Greater London – have been burned.
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hectares → burn → London
This is more than twice the area burned last year without the influence of El Niño.
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This → burn → Niño
The wildfires have led to school closures and an increase in hospital admissions across Indonesia.
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wildfires → lead → Indonesia
Millions of people in Sumatra and Kalimantan have been exposed to toxic haze from the fires and around 175,000 people have suffered from respiratory illness.
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people → expose → illness
More than 40,000 cases – which range from coughs to bronchitis and more serious conditions like pneumonia – involve toddlers.
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which → range → toddlers
East Pacific explodes with hurricane activity
In the eastern Pacific, where El Niño tends to strengthen hurricane activity, it has been a very active season so far.
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it → explode → activity
This is already above the number that would typically develop in the whole of an average season, with two months left to go until its end.
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months → develop → end
Here, El Niño provides the ingredients of higher ocean temperatures and weaker winds high in the atmosphere, making it easier for storms to gain strength.
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storms → provide → strength
The hurricane experienced rapid intensification, producing wind gusts of 180 mph (285 kmh), fueled by the very warm waters produced by El Niño.
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hurricane → experience → Niño
Polo was also one of three hurricanes churning away in the same basin at the same time, along with Odalys and Nolo.
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Polo → churn → Odalys
Moreover, it has happened twice now in the space of a month.
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it → happen → month
Earlier in September, the energy produced by exceptional ocean heat resulted in three simultaneous hurricanes in the central and eastern Pacific: Lowell, Karina and Marie.
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energy → produce → Pacific
Atlantic hurricane season remains eerily quiet
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season → remain → ?
In contrast, the Atlantic Ocean has remained eerily quiet.
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Ocean → remain → contrast
El Nino has a tendency to increase wind shear in the north Atlantic, a factor which tears apart storms and limits formation.
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which → have → formation
There has only been one hurricane - Isaias - which made landfall in the Florida Panhandle and Alabama.
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which → make → Panhandle
This was the latest forming hurricane on record in the satellite era (1960s onward).
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This → form → era
Before this year, the record was 11 September, set in 2002 and 2013.
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record → set → 2002
Reduced monsoon rain threatens agriculture in India
The drier and warmer theme has also taken hold in India, where the essential monsoon rainfall has been 13% below average.
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rainfall → reduce → average
While the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) would consider this still to be in the 'normal' range, the overall average doesn't reflect the variation in rainfall across India.
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average → consider → India
While Central India had around its normal expected rainfall, the east and north-east were around 26% drier than average and put into 'exceptional' drought.
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east → have → drought
Even where rainfall was nearer to average, the rain did not fall continuously as is typical during the monsoon, instead flipping between long dry spells and extreme rainfall.
This adds more stress and vulnerability to agriculture yields.
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This → fall → yields
India is influenced by a number of different weather patterns that can affect the monsoon season and so scientists suggest that El Niño may not have been the only factor.
Strong typhoons target east China and Japan
Further west in the Pacific, it's also been an active season in eastern China and Japan as storms including Maysak and Dujuan have brought recent widespread floods and landslides.
uncertain
storms → influence → floods
During El Niño the warmer Pacific brings changes to wind patterns, meaning cyclones tend to form further east, away from Japan and east China.
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cyclones → bring → Japan
However, this means there is a bigger distance and more time where storms can feed off the warmer waters, gaining energy to become more intense typhoons before they hit land.
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they → mean → land
Scientists believe that additional typhoons are likely to develop this year with the potential for further impacts to Japan or east China.
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typhoons → believe → Japan
The Aporia
