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Jose Anthony Godinez
Shirley Kahlert
WRI-01
26 November 2012
Él Niño near California
“A storm system that has battered California for three days, flooding streets and
triggering mudslides. In Southern California on Wednesday, the third storm in three days
brought high winds and continuous rainfall, prompting authorities to issue flash flood and
high-wind warnings. In the north, some 30,000 people lost power, and the state’s
highway patrol reported numerous mudslides along roadways. (Michael B. Farrell)” El
Nino affects California in four ways. El Niño is defined as “a rapid, dramatic warming of
the sea-surface temperatures in the eastern tropical Pacific, chiefly along the north-central
coast of South America and westward.”(Monteverdi, Null) This occurs about every two
to seven years. To start with, Él Niño affects the amount of precipitation received in
California as well as the frequency of storms that occur within California. Secondly, El
Nino causes various species of animal, such as shorebird, to change habitats because of
the constant change of the original habitats. In addition, it brings various types of fish
because of the conditions of the ocean, such as temperature and currents. Lastly, Él Niño
causes major beach reorientation, meaning that this weather phenomenon changes some
of the beaches features over time.
First, Él Niño affects the amount of rainfall received in California as well as
dictates the frequency at which storms occur, although Él Niño is not a storm. It is
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evident when Él Niño is present, even in both Southern and Northern California, because
there are years of heavy precipitation that have reached record highs. As stated in the
Journal of Coastal Research by David L. Revel of University of California, Santa Cruz
of the Institute of Marine Science. Jenifer E. Dugan of University of California, Santa
Barbara of Marine Science Institute, and David M. Hubbard of University of California,
Santa Barbara of Marine Science Institute, “Annual average rainfall in Santa Barbara on
the basis of records dating back to 1867 is 46 cm. The 1997–98 water year had one of the
highest rainfalls in the 138-year record and showed a 158% increase above the mean to
119 cm, including 53 cm of rain falling in February 1998”. Evidently, Él Niño is known
for causing floods because it brings the rain with it. For instance, in 2005, in Reseda,
California close to December, it rained for about a week without stopping. Lately,
California weather shows signs of irregularities including drought as well as rainfall
occurring at unusual times. For example, this year in Merced rainfall occurred toward the
end of summer, when it is common for there to be only a cool down in temperature first.
In retrospect, the occurrence of these storms due to Él Niño is periodic because they
occur between periods of two to seven years. Statistics shown that between 1997 – 1998,
cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Eureka received 150% more rainfall than in
previous years. Overall, Él Niño creates an unusual amount of rainfall periodically and
affects the frequency of storms that occur all across California.
Secondly, El Nino constantly affects the habitats of various species of animals,
such as shorebirds and marine animals. On California beaches, less and less shorebirds
are seen in their existing habitats. As stated by Revel, Dugan, and Hubbard, “The
response of shorebirds to the 1997–98 El Nino was evident in overall abundance and
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species composition, with abundance for all shorebirds declining by 42% and that of the
dominant species, sanderlings, declining by 30% during 1998.” The weather from Él
Niño caused this decline by changing the shorebirds favorable “beach characteristics” as
well as “prey availability” such as sand crabs. Another animal affected by Él Niño are
macrophytes known as wracks, which are largely essential to a marine ecosystem because
the bottom of the food chain helps feed and give energy to the next level of organisms
such as filter feeders and so on like larger fish, octopus, sharks, and whales. As stated by
Revel, Dugan, and Hubbard “During the 1997–98 El Nino, the mean cover of wrack
dropped to the lowest annual maximum observed in the study period. Wrack cover
declined to near zero and remained low at Ellwood and UCSB for a prolonged period
between January and July 1998.” Evidently, the lack of wracks affects the marine
ecosystems, especially filter feeders. In addition to that, Él Niño affected invertebrates
like the clam since they like to bury themselves in the sand using there strong foot, which
looks almost like a tongue further, changing their sandy landscape. As a result of this
weathering phenomenon, many of these organism migrate to a more suitable environment
in order to maintain homeostasis, or internal stability.
On a positive note, Él Niño increases the population of certain fish because of the
oceanic conditions it provides, such as warmer temperature and currents, which draw the
fish closer to the shore. This weathering phenomenon resulted in schools of fish
migrating in time for the fishing season. Dr. Charles asserts, “It was a common sight to
see schools of sardines and anchovies being cleverly crowded into the shallow waters
along the shoreline by ravenous yellowtail and white sea bass (Cunningham).” Clearly, Él
Niño affects a variety of fish, both exotic and native, such as anchovies, sardines, tuna,
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swordfish, marlin, bonitos, and albacores; although the tuna, swordfish and the white bass
that respond the most to the warmer water temperatures and ocean current patterns.
Commercial fisheries can benefit from this because with a large amount of organisms
they can have a surplus, which can benefit California’s economy. In contrast, overfishing
can hurt California’s economy and the fish population by bringing them close to
extinction. As a result of overfishing, the game fish usually found near California shores
“decreases to 90% (Cunningham).” For the most part, Él Niño increases the number of
fish for commercial fisheries to benefit California’s economy.
Lastly, Él Niño affects the beaches in California. It affects the beach in three
ways. As stated in the Journal of Coastal Research by Revel, Dugan, and Hubbard “In
1997, there were approximately 490,000 m3 of sand above MHW on the beaches in the
study area. During the El Nino, 390,000 m3 (80%) of sand was removed from the
beaches so that by April 1998 there were only, 100,000 m3 of sand remaining”. This
implies that during the occurrence of Él Niño beaches lose a plethora of sand on the
backshore, which is where the dry sand is. The loss of sand occurs when water comes
over it; since the water is warmer, it allow the sand to float more easily and less
compacted. For instance, if someone had one jar of warm water and one jar of cold water,
once sand is poured into both, the jar with the warm water has sand that sinks slower than
the jar with cold water. In addition, this weathering phenomenon affects the slope of
beaches. The slope of the beaches in California in comparison to how they appeared a
few years ago is more horizontal which accounts for why there are dry sections of the
beach. In addition, the height of sand on the beaches also decreased. Overall, this
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weathering phenomenon causes the beaches in California to decreases in size as well as
change the structure of how the sand is leveled.
In essence, El Nino affects California in four ways. It affects the precipitation, the
habitats and wildlife in marine ecosystem, and the physical structure of beaches in
California as well as the frequency of storms. In addition to that, El Nino has the potential
to cause damages to city’s roadways and power line as well as cause mudslides. Él Niño
occurs about every two to seven on average. This weathering phenomenon dictates the
amount of precipitation received in California as well as the frequency of storms that
occur, cause flood to form in parts of California. In addition, El Nino causes various
species of animal, such as shorebird and marine animals, to migrate to different habitats
because of the constant change of their original habitats. In addition to that, it brings
various types of fish because of the changed conditions of the ocean, such as warmer
water temperature and change of currents. Lastly, Él Niño causes the physical appearance
of the beaches of California to change, meaning that this weather phenomenon changes
slope making it more horizontal and the quantity of sand available.
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Work cited
Revell, David L., Jenifer E. Dugan, and David M. Hubbard. "Physical And Ecological
Responses Of Sandy Beaches To The 1997-98 El Niño." Journal Of Coastal
Research 27.4 (2011): 718-730. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Nov. 2012.
Monteverdi, John, and Jan Null. "El Nino and California Precipitation." El Nino and
California Precipitation. 21 Nov. 1997. John Monteverdi. 10 Nov. 2012
<http://tornado.sfsu.edu/geosciences/ElNino/elnino.html>.
Cunningham Laura. A state of change: Forgotten landscapes of California. Berkeley, CA:
Heyday, 2010.