Coinciding with one of the strongest El Niño events since at least 1950, widespread droughts occurred throughout southern Africa during 2015/2016.
How does El Nino cause drought?
High-pressure systems reduce evaporation and moisture in the atmosphere. El Niño – as the surface temperature of the Pacific Ocean around the central South American coast increases, storm patterns are disrupted. This phenomenon is thought to create droughts in Indonesia and Australia.
What causes drought in southern Africa?
Extreme drought events in southern Africa are the result of a number of atmospheric circulation interactions (Tyson, 1986; Lindesay, 1998) with some droughts and periods of reduced rainfall, for example, connected with ENSO events.
How does El Nino affect South African weather?
How does El Niño affect South Africa? As sea temperatures rise, the air becomes more dry and humid, influencing hotter weather patterns. This is responsible for making our hot summers even hotter and severely limits the amount of rainfall across the country.
What is the relationship between El Nino and the formation of droughts over southern Africa?
It has been established that ElNino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) modulates rainfall variability over southern Africa (Nicholson et al, 2001), and the effects have been adverse for Botswana, where research has shown that a high correlation exists between severe drought in the country and ENSO events (Nicholson and Kim, …
What are 2 effects of El Nino?
Severe drought and associated food insecurity, flooding, rains, and temperature rises due to El Niño are causing a wide range of health problems, including disease outbreaks, malnutrition, heat stress and respiratory diseases.
Does El Nino bring more rain?
The Short Answer: El Niño is a weather pattern that occurs in the Pacific Ocean. During this time, unusual winds cause warm surface water from the equator to move east, toward Central and South America. El Niño can cause more rain than usual in South and Central America and in the United States.
How can we stop the drought in South Africa?
Immediate measures to mitigate drought
Water tankering from available sources; Rainwater & fog harvesting; Protection and use of springs; Cloud seeding; Evaporation suppression; Desalination of brackish groundwater or sea water; and Effluent treatment and re-use.
What are the 4 types of drought?
As a result, the climatological community has defined four types of drought: 1) meteorological drought, 2) hydrological drought, 3) agricultural drought, and 4) socioeconomic drought. Meteorological drought happens when dry weather patterns dominate an area.
How can we solve the drought in South Africa?
Faced with three years of serious drought, the South African capital is ramping up its efforts to conserve and diversify its water supply.
- improving efficiency standards in buildings;
- restricting non-essential water use;
- maintenance and repair programs on distribution infrastructure; and.
- public awareness campaigns.
What does El Nino mean for South Africa?
An estimated 40 million people have been affected by El Nino in Southern Africa. This number has increased from 28 million since the beginning of the year. … El Nino usually means less rainfall in most countries, but high rainfall in some countries. The current El Nino phenomenon is the strongest and longest in 35 years.
What is the main cause of El Nino?
El Nino is essentially caused by the interaction between the surface layers of the tropical Pacific Ocean and the atmosphere over it. The water is warmer due to the trade winds reversing direction or becoming less intense. … In contrast El Nino can also bring flooding and heavy rainfall in other areas.
Is South Africa experiencing El Nino?
According to Farmers’ Weekly, this meant that neither La Niña nor El Niño events were predicted, and that ENSO was unlikely to directly influence Southern Africa’s summer rainfall areas. …
When was the worst drought in South Africa?
South Africa has been experiencing water shortages since 2015, when delayed rainfalls and decreasing dam levels led to a drought. It was the worst drought in the country since 1982. As a result two provinces — KwaZulu-Natal and Free State — were declared disaster areas.
What is the relationship between El Nino and drought?
During El Niño episodes the normal patterns of tropical precipitation and atmospheric circulation are disrupted, hence triggering extreme climate events around the globe: droughts, floods and affecting the intensity and frequency of hurricanes.
What is the difference between El Nino and drought?
El Niño and La Niña affect not only ocean temperatures, but also how much it rains on land. Depending on which cycle occurs (and when), this can mean either droughts or flooding. Typically, El Niño and its warm waters are associated with drought, while La Niña is linked to increased flooding.