Posted on 09/16/2006 5:24:55 PM PDT by blam
Link between El Niños and droughts in India<
Sid Perkins
Scientists report that droughts in India are associated with a particular type of El Niño, the climate phenomenon marked by increased sea-surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific.
The rainy season in India occurs in June, July, and August. Between 1871 and 2002, central India experienced 10 severe summertime droughts, says Martin Hoerling, a meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder, Colo. Every one of those dry spells occurred during an El Niño, he notes. However, not all El Niños during that 132-year period caused droughts—in 13 cases, summer rainfall during an El Niño was at or slightly above normal.
The explanation, says Hoerling, is that not all El Niños are the same. While some primarily warm up the eastern Pacific near South America, the hot spots for other El Niños appear mainly in the central Pacific.
Indian droughts seem to result from only the latter type, Hoerling and his colleagues report online and in an upcoming Science.
Warmer-than-normal ocean temperatures in the central Pacific send large amounts of moist, warm air up to high altitudes there. This shift in the atmosphere causes air masses to move downward over central India, climate models suggest. Such downwelling tends to suppress rainfall.
Few studies have scrutinized central-Pacific El Niños, says Hoerling. A better understanding of that type may enable scientists to develop an early-warning system for Indian droughts, he notes.
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BTTT
Amazing! It's like the whole climate is linked through a number of different feedback mechanisms. Who would have thought?
True story. A friend and some people from Lifeway Ministries in Nashville went to India for a "tourist visit" and while they were there they evangelized and won over about 4400 Indians to Christ.
But the story I want to tell is one where a team of about 4 missionaries went out into the countryside and into the hills. They were trying to share the good news when they were interrupted by several men who said it had not rained in that area for a very long time (the period that sticks in my mind is something like 13 months) they asked, "Can your god make it rain?" and the missionary group said, "Our God is the God of all. Of course He can make it rain."
So the missionary team retired to an area nearby and prayed on their knees most of the night and guess what started at about 4 in the morning?
That's right. It RAINED! For the first time in over a year it rained! Needless to say, they had a very attentive audience the next morning. BTW, this happened barely a year ago.
Bush's fault. Rove has the remote control for the El Ninovator.
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