EL NINO- Brazil

ambience: music

Every three years or so, an influx of warm water into the western Pacific Ocean sets off a chain reaction of weather phenomena that we’ve come to know as El Nino. Last year, storms, floods and droughts driven by El Nino left billions of dollars of damage around the world. But thanks to early warning and planning, even greater losses were averted. I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet.

“In developing nations like the southern part of Africa, they’re incredibly weather dependent because they have an agricultural economy and if crops don’t grow they starve. They then move into cities so you’ve suddenly got an evacuation. You’ve almost got environmental refugees. If the crops aren’t successful there’s no work for these people. They move into the cities and that puts additional stress and strain on the urban areas.”

John Kermond is a visiting scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Using satellite images and ocean temperature monitors, his office was able to identify some of the first signs of El Nino. And, thanks to the early warning, some South American countries had the opportunity to prepare themselves.

“In northeastern Brazil, which usually suffers a drought during an El Nino, they will change the crop. They will go from cotton to rice based on the forecast or vice versa; they’ll grow cotton, of course, in an El Nino because that’s a drier crop. In Peru, the government issues seed stock and they change the seed stock, change the variety, recommend the farmers plant earlier, harvest sooner, make some adjustments. Even in Australia where they normally suffer a drought now, they underwent a massive education about fire prevention. Because when you’ve got dry conditions, like what happened in ’82-’83, most of the southeast corner of Australia was on fire at one point because of the drought. Well, this year they didn’t have that and part of it was due to the fire education campaign.”

Pulse of the Planet is presented by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.

EL NINO- Brazil

In an El Nino year, farmers in Brazil took the old adage 'an ounce of prevention' to heart.
Air Date:12/24/1998
Scientist:
Transcript:


ambience: music

Every three years or so, an influx of warm water into the western Pacific Ocean sets off a chain reaction of weather phenomena that we've come to know as El Nino. Last year, storms, floods and droughts driven by El Nino left billions of dollars of damage around the world. But thanks to early warning and planning, even greater losses were averted. I'm Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet.

"In developing nations like the southern part of Africa, they're incredibly weather dependent because they have an agricultural economy and if crops don't grow they starve. They then move into cities so you've suddenly got an evacuation. You've almost got environmental refugees. If the crops aren't successful there's no work for these people. They move into the cities and that puts additional stress and strain on the urban areas."

John Kermond is a visiting scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Using satellite images and ocean temperature monitors, his office was able to identify some of the first signs of El Nino. And, thanks to the early warning, some South American countries had the opportunity to prepare themselves.

"In northeastern Brazil, which usually suffers a drought during an El Nino, they will change the crop. They will go from cotton to rice based on the forecast or vice versa; they'll grow cotton, of course, in an El Nino because that's a drier crop. In Peru, the government issues seed stock and they change the seed stock, change the variety, recommend the farmers plant earlier, harvest sooner, make some adjustments. Even in Australia where they normally suffer a drought now, they underwent a massive education about fire prevention. Because when you've got dry conditions, like what happened in '82-'83, most of the southeast corner of Australia was on fire at one point because of the drought. Well, this year they didn't have that and part of it was due to the fire education campaign."

Pulse of the Planet is presented by the National Science Foundation. I'm Jim Metzner.