Скачать или смотреть USA: EL NINO WEATHER PHENOMENON SAID TO BE DYING OUT

(26 Jun 1998) English/Nat

"El Nino" -- the weather phenomenon that has caused unusual weather patterns since the beginning of 1997 is said to be dying out.

Using the latest satellite technology, NASA researchers say that for the first time they can actually see the changes from "El Nino to non-El Nino conditions".

These NASA images combine data from satellites and ocean buoys to trace the evolution of the weather phenonomen known as "El Nino".

They show El Nino from its beginning in early 1997, to its peak last November, and then to its recent decline.

These latest images also show regions of the pacific that are rapidly cooling.

The red indicates warmer than normal temperatures - the blue, cooler than normal.

By June of 1998, the extreme temperature patterns had scaled down a bit, and began to return to normal.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"When El Nino ends, and it ended very abruptly this time around the Galapagos, in the course of a less than a week, what happens is these surface waters which were very warm and depleted in nutrients are replaced by deep, cold upwelled water, which now brings nutrients up to the surface, allowing the phytoplankton to bloom. And what we're able to see from one week to the next, is an increase in phytoplankton concentrations around the entire archipelago -- about 150 thousand square kilometres of ocean bloomed in less than a week. It's really remarkable."
SUPER CAPTION: Gene Feldman, NASA Research Oceanographer

These new satellite images document the rapid demise of El Nino in the waters around the Galapagos Islands off the coast of South America.

During the El Nino months, the surrounding waters were much warmer than normal -- choking off essential ocean nutrients, and killing much of the plant and animal life on the islands.

But as El Nino ended, deep, cold water returned, bringing back life with it.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"For the first time, we've actually been able to capture the change from El Nino to non-El Nino conditions in the waters in the Pacific. In particular, looking at the Galapagos Islands, we've watched them go from essentially a biological desert, to a tropical rain forest in the ocean. Life now is abundant again, the animals that live on the island can once again count on the ocean to provide them food."
SUPER CAPTION: Gene Feldman, NASA Research Oceanographer

Scientists call it the "El Nino - La Nina pattern."

Much like the weather pattern in 1982 and 1983, El Nino eventually reversed, and developed into La Nina -- this means different things for different areas of the world.

While the images show the cooling masses of water in the Pacific Ocean that follow the El Nino warming trend, some areas that may have seen a very wet fall and winter, could expect a very dry summer.

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