What is El Nio and what causes it?
This year, El Nino has been blamed for severe storms, droughts and other extreme weather related phenomena around the world. What is El Nino, anyway, and what causes it? I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by the American Museum of Natural History. “The name El Nino comes from Peruvian fisherman.” Steven Anderson is an assistant scientist in the department of Oceanography at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. “The coast of Peru is known for strong winds blowing along the coast that drives an ocean circulation which brings cold nutrient waters to the surface. These nutrients feed the plankton which in turn feed the fish. So it’s very good fishing there. Well the Peruvian fishermen found that every couple of years those surface waters would warm up and the winds would die down and the fish would all go away because there’s no longer any nutrients for them. This reached its maximum during Christmas time and they used the term El Nino for the child or Christ
