How El Niño Affects Our Lives

El Niño is a climate pattern that describes the unusual warming of surface
waters in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. El Nino is one of the largest scientific
phenomena that scientists have ever explored. The main concepts of El Nino are very
simple and there are many variations, causes, affects, and relationships to study. This
natural occurrence can cause a lot of serious effects. As many may know, we could also
notice some soils drying up and cracking, which affects crop production because it
disrupts normal weather patterns. More specifically, El Niño creates water shortages,
including flooding. Water shortages reduce crop planting areas, delay planting
seasons, and generally lower crop yields. If areas affected by El Niño are exposed to
fire, the agricultural crop area may be re-usable after a single season. But if the soil
and water protection provided by forests is destroyed, agricultural land may
permanently lose its productivity. Since El Niño is known to be very dry and hot, so it
can cause a wide range of health problems, including disease outbreaks, malnutrition,
heat stress, and respiratory diseases. The risk of communicable diseases increases
when there is limited access to food, water, and sanitation. During El Niño years the
warmer water in the central and eastern Pacific has far fewer nutrients, so many
species – including seabirds and marine mammals – struggle to survive or breed.