Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes on contributors
- Peer reviewers
- Editor's note
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Preface
- Preface
- Preface
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- List of SI prefixes
- List of unit abbreviations
- List of chemical formulae
- Part I Science
- Part II Sustainable energy development, mitigation and policy
- Part III Vulnerability and adaptation
- 18 Potential impacts of sea-level rise on populations and agriculture
- 19 Sea-level rise and coastal biodiversity in West Africa: a case study from Ghana
- 20 The impacts of ENSO in Africa
- 21 Climate policy implications of the recent ENSO events in a small island context
- 22 El Niño causes dramatic outbreak of Paederus dermatitis in East Africa
- 23 The role of indigenous plants in household adaptation to climate change: the Kenyan experience
- 24 Requirements for integrated assessment modelling at the regional and national levels in Africa to address climate change
- 25 Climate and disaster risk reduction in Africa
- Part IV Capacity-building
- Part V Lessons from the Montreal Protocol
- Index
20 - The impacts of ENSO in Africa
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes on contributors
- Peer reviewers
- Editor's note
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Foreword
- Preface
- Preface
- Preface
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- List of SI prefixes
- List of unit abbreviations
- List of chemical formulae
- Part I Science
- Part II Sustainable energy development, mitigation and policy
- Part III Vulnerability and adaptation
- 18 Potential impacts of sea-level rise on populations and agriculture
- 19 Sea-level rise and coastal biodiversity in West Africa: a case study from Ghana
- 20 The impacts of ENSO in Africa
- 21 Climate policy implications of the recent ENSO events in a small island context
- 22 El Niño causes dramatic outbreak of Paederus dermatitis in East Africa
- 23 The role of indigenous plants in household adaptation to climate change: the Kenyan experience
- 24 Requirements for integrated assessment modelling at the regional and national levels in Africa to address climate change
- 25 Climate and disaster risk reduction in Africa
- Part IV Capacity-building
- Part V Lessons from the Montreal Protocol
- Index
Summary
Keywords
El Niño; La Niña; ENSO; Southern Oscillation Index; African rainfall climatology; vulnerability; impacts; Africa
Abstarct
El Niño and La Niña phenomena are simply referred to as the warm and cold ENSO phases respectively. ENSO events generally last from 3 to 6 seasons, sometimes as long as 24 months, and tend to recur every 3 to 7 years. The warming/cooling (El Niño/La Niña) of the eastern and central equatorial Pacific Ocean are known to lead to worldwide anomalies in sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and the circulation of the ocean currents. The most significant influence is found in the tropics, but such influences have been found to vary significantly from place to place and from season to season, as well as with the evolution pattern of the ENSO phases. Although ENSO impacts are strongest in the Pacific Ocean region, past records in Africa show that some severe droughts and floods that have been observed over parts of the continent have been associated with ENSO events. As elucidated in this paper, the impacts of some of these extreme droughts and floods have seriously affected the social and economic development of various countries in the African continent.
INTRODUCTION
The El Niño and La Niña phenomena have, in recent years, become widely known by the public at large around the world. These phenomena have a long historical base in Latin America.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Climate Change and Africa , pp. 218 - 230Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005
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