With El Nino come rising water temperatures—higher even than those that have been a serious concern for scientists in recent times that only exacerbate an already alarming climatic trend.
El Niño is a climate pattern that describes the unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. It can have far-reaching effects on weather patterns around the world. Some of the concerns connected to El Niño include:
- Droughts in Southeast Asia and Australia
- Heavy rainfall and flooding in South America
- Warmer than usual temperatures in North America
- Increased hurricane activity in the Atlantic Ocean
- By extension, El Niño then affects global food prices and causes economic damage as well
El Nino happens on average every 5 years, but is quite irregular and can occur anywhere between every 2 to 7 years. During El Nino years, when currents weaken and trade winds die down, the entire Galapagos food chain is impacted and many species face mass starvation and near extinctions. The marine habitats surrounding the Galápagos Islands may suffer significant effects “.
Experts fear this El Nino could be one of the most intense in decades.
On Santa Cruz island, a species called Amblyrhynchus cristatus can live for as long as 60 years. It may look like a prehistoric creature, but it is highly susceptible to temperature fluctuations in the Pacific that affect its main food source — algae — for which it digs among rocks under water or in the shallows.
Marine iguana populations “undergo extreme fluctuations by cyclic, but unpredictably recurring, famine (El Nino) and feast (La Nina) events,” according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which lists the species as vulnerable.
“We should be getting cold water now, at the end of June, July, August, but we still have very warm water,” Danny Rueda, director of the Galapagos National Park, told AFP.
He cited two previous particularly harsh El Nino events: One in 1982 and another in 1997 that bleached corals and wreaked havoc on the islands’ animal life — also tortoises, penguins, cormorants and sea lions.
According to World Meteorological Organization (WMO) secretary general Petteri Taalas, “the newly arrived El Nino will turn up the heat and bring with it more extreme weather” to Latin America and the Caribbean.
In a statement issued Tuesday to accompany a report on climate change effects in the region, he cautioned that “early warnings… will be vital to protect lives and livelihoods.”
El Nino-induced food shortages can mean starvation for marine iguanas — whose body length has been recorded during previous events to shrink by as much as five centimeters (1.9 inches).
“Predictions that climate change may increase the severity and frequency of El Nino events… suggest that some (marine iguana) subpopulations could be removed entirely,” says the IUCN.
According to Rueda, there are about 450,000 iguanas on the islands. Their numbers, say the IUCN, can drop by 90 percent after a strong El Nino event.
“It being a natural phenomenon, we have no preventive measures” against El Nino’s effects, said park director Rueda.
“All we can do is count the post-El Nino populations to calculate what the impact was.”
