We have mentioned “El Nino” phenomenon in several articles. This climate cycle in the Pacific Ocean, is known to have a global impact on weather patterns.
It is now causing an intense fire season in the Amazon, according to the 2016 seasonal fire forecast from scientists at NASA and the University of California, Irvine.
Usually, El Nino’s cycle begins when warm water in the western tropical Pacific Ocean shifts eastward along the equator toward the coast of South America.
Rainfall patterns were altered by El Nino’s conditions in 2015 and early 2016 around the world.
In the Amazon, El Niño reduced rainfall during the wet season, leaving the region drier at the start of the 2016 dry season than any year since 2002, according to NASA satellite data.
On a scale of zero to 100, the risk of severe fire activity in July, August and September is high for six states in Braxil (Acre, Amazonas, Maranhao, Mato Grosso, Para and Rondonia), three departments in Bolivia (El Beni, Pando, and Santa Cruz), and one country (Peru). Credits: Yang Chen, University of California, Irvine
Doug Morton, an Earth scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center who helped create the fire forecast, said that “Wildfire risk for the dry season months of July to October this year now exceeds fire risk in 2005 and 2010, drought years when wildfires burned large areas of Amazon rain-forest”.
Health Risks of El Nino
El Nino is a very dangerous phenomenon, and humans have a major role in worsening it.
Here are some heightened health risks by El Nino:
- Malnutrition
- Respiratory Diseases
- Water-Borne Diseases
- Direct injuries and fatalities
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