levels of precipitation during the winter months of June, July and August. These wetter conditions continue through the summer months of December, January and February (2, 16).
The intense El Nio of 1982-83 was the greatest natural catastrophe in the 20th century. This El Nio event caused billions of dollars in agricultural damage (crops and livestock) in Australia. It was the worst drought in Australia in 200 years. In South America storms and floods destroyed bridges and highways in the normally dry coastal areas. Fishing losses were over $2 billion dollars in Peru and $640 million in Ecuador. Damage amounts in India and Africa were not calculated. None of these figures can take into account the impact of loss of livelihood and suffering for the individual people affected by the severe weather or lack of rainfall and water.
The El Nio is an unusual warning of the normally cool surface waters off the west coast of South America. This unusual phenomenon normally lasts for approximately a year. The anomalous oceanic conditions which are included in the event are a 2 degree to 8 degree celsius warming of the surface isothermal layer, a deepening of the thermocline, a reversal of normal northward setting coastal currents, and the reduction of the nutrient supply for phytoplankton to eat and then be eaten by other organisms, and other consequent disruptions to the ecosystem of the coast.
El Nio is the phase of the Southern Oscillation when the trade winds are weak and when pressure is low over the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean and high over the Western tropical Pacific Ocean (6, 4). At times just after Christmas, a counter-current develops in the ocean offshore of South America (6, 1). This counter-current is called El Nio, after the Christ child. The term El Nio was used by Paita sailors between the ports of Paita and Pacasmay on the coast of Peru to define this counter-current in the last century.
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