The 1982–1983 El Niño event was one of the strongest
El Niño
EL, El or el may refer to:
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* El, a character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit
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events since records were kept.
It led to
drought
A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...
s in
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
and
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, widespread
flooding
A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant concern in agriculture, civi ...
across the southern
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, lack of snow in the northern United States, and an anomalously warm
winter
Winter is the coldest and darkest season of the year in temperate and polar climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Dif ...
across much of the
mid-latitude regions of
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
and
Eurasia
Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...
.
The estimated global economic impact was over
US$
The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...
8 billion,
though more recent work has upward revised this number to be $4.1 trillion.
This El Niño event also led to an abnormal number of
hurricanes in the Pacific Ocean during this time span; the
strongest hurricane up to 1983 hit
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
during the event.
Meteorological progression
Due to a variety of reasons, ranging from the lack of knowledge among the general public regarding El Niño events to the fact that a volcanic eruption in Mexico from
El Chichón distracted many scientists from noticing the telltale signs, this event escaped the notice of the scientific world until 1983. As pointed out by
Walter Sullivan, signs began to appear in early 1982, when a noticeable and measurable drop in atmospheric pressure was noted in the central and southeastern Pacific compared to pressures found off the coast of
Darwin, Australia.
As the year progressed, more and more signs pointed towards an upcoming powerful El Niño event; from the collapse and subsequent reversal of the
trade easterlies that traditionally prevent upwelling from occurring in the Western Pacific to the various atmospheric signatures that can all be associated with the
El Niño-Southern Oscillation, these indicators all pointed to the fact that one of the most powerful El Niño events of the 20th century had begun.
Effects on tropical cyclone development
As a result of the event, the
1982 Atlantic hurricane season and
1983 Atlantic hurricane season both saw a reduced number of storms and a decrease in their average strength. Over this two-year period, the most notable storm that formed over this period was
Hurricane Alicia
Hurricane Alicia was a small but powerful tropical cyclone that caused significant destruction in the Greater Houston area of Southeast Texas in August 1983. Although Alicia was a relatively small hurricane, its track over the rapidly grow ...
, a minimal
Category 3 storm that made landfall in
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
, causing US$3 billion dollars worth in damages.
The rest of the storms that formed during these two seasons were relatively unremarkable; over the two seasons, there were only 10 named storms, 5
hurricanes
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...
, and two
major hurricanes. One can expect to equal or even beat these numbers in a single season, as the tropical Atlantic typically churns out 10 named storms, 5 to 6 hurricanes, and 2 to 3 major hurricanes in a single year.
Despite
Hurricane Debby in 1982 reaching
Category 4 strength, it never made landfall.
In contrast, the
1982 Pacific hurricane season and the
1983 Pacific hurricane season were both unusually active. The 1982 season ranks as the 4th-most active season alongside
2018
Events January
* January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency.
* January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
, while the 1983 season was the longest Pacific hurricane season recorded at the time (it was later surpassed by the
2015
2015 was designated by the United Nations as:
* International Year of Light
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Events
January
* January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
and
2016
2016 was designated as:
* International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
* International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
seasons). Notable storms include the aforementioned
Hurricane Iwa,
Hurricane Paul, and
Hurricane Tico.
Despite expectations of diminished tropical cyclone activity, the western Pacific typhoon seasons of
1982
Events
January
* January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00).
* January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...
and
1983
1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call.
Events January
* January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...
were hardly affected by the ongoing El Niño event.
Impacts
The 1982–83 El Niño event changed the normal location of cold and warm waters around the
Galápagos Islands
The Galápagos Islands () are an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Eastern Pacific, located around the equator, west of the mainland of South America. They form the Galápagos Province of the Republic of Ecuador, with a population of sli ...
, killing many of the
macroalgae
Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of Macroscopic scale, macroscopic, Multicellular organism, multicellular, ocean, marine algae. The term includes some types of ''Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Brown algae, Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ...
at the base of the
food chain
A food chain is a linear network of links in a food web, often starting with an autotroph (such as grass or algae), also called a producer, and typically ending at an apex predator (such as grizzly bears or killer whales), detritivore (such as ...
and increasing predation on the survivors by starving animals. One
endemic species
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
of cold water algae, ''
Desmarestia tropica'', is often held as being driven to
extinction
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
by this crisis,
although it had not actually been observed by researchers since 1972.
Two animal species, the
Galápagos damselfish (which was considered "rare" before the event) and the
24-rayed sunstar, have not been seen since this El Niño event.
Up in the food chain, the crisis led to declines of 77% among
Galápagos penguins, 49% among
flightless cormorants,
and 25% among adult
Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
vian
sea lions and
fur seals, plus the loss of the entire pup population in the latter two.
In
Ecuador
Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...
, heavy rainfall and flooding led to high
fish
A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...
and
shrimp
A shrimp (: shrimp (American English, US) or shrimps (British English, UK)) is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily Aquatic locomotion, swimming mode of locomotion – typically Decapods belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchi ...
harvests; however, the large amounts of standing water also allowed
mosquito
Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a Family (biology), family of small Diptera, flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word ''mosquito'' (formed by ''Musca (fly), mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish and Portuguese for ''little fly''. Mos ...
populations to thrive, leading to large outbreaks of
malaria
Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...
. In just this country alone, the economic impact from this event in regards to damages caused by this flooding were estimated at over US$400 million.
Warm water to the south of the
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii in the south to nort ...
around November allowed a late tropical disturbance to develop into
Hurricane Iwa,
which became the sixth wettest tropical cyclone ever recorded in Hawaii, and the costliest up to that point,
causing damage totaling $312 million (1982 USD, $
USD
The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...
)
and leaving 500 Hawaiians homeless.
The
last
A last is a mechanical form shaped like a human foot. It is used by shoemakers and cordwainers in the manufacture and repair of shoes. Lasts come in many styles and sizes, depending on the exact job they are designed for. Common variations ...
female
Kauaʻi ʻōʻō
The Kauaʻi ʻōʻō () or ''ʻōʻōʻāʻā'' (''Moho braccatus'') was the last member of the ʻōʻō (''Moho (genus), Moho'') genus within the Mohoidae family of birds from the islands of Hawaii, Hawaiʻi. The entire family is now Extincti ...
bird was lost in the storm; her mate was recorded singing in solitary until he went silent and presumably died in 1987, marking the extinction of their species.
In
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
and
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, one of the worst droughts ever occurred as a result of this event. The cooler waters led to the formation of less
convection
Convection is single or Multiphase flow, multiphase fluid flow that occurs Spontaneous process, spontaneously through the combined effects of material property heterogeneity and body forces on a fluid, most commonly density and gravity (see buoy ...
in the region, and less rainfall as a result. The damages from crop failure and loss of
livestock
Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...
easily surpassed US$100 million.
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
and
Eurasia
Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...
also faced unusually warm temperatures as a result of this event. The eastern
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
in particular saw the warmest winter in roughly 25 years. Other side-effects, such as an uptick in mosquitoes, a loss in
salmon
Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...
off the coast of
Alaska
Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...
and
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, and an increase in
shark attack
A shark attack is an attack on a human by a shark. Every year, around 80 unprovoked attacks are reported worldwide. Despite their rarity, many people fear shark attacks after occasional serial attacks, such as the Jersey Shore shark attacks of ...
s off the western United States coast can all also be at least partially blamed upon this event.
Several temperature records across both landmasses were broken as a result.
In addition,
tornado activity significantly increased across the
Florida peninsula and even reached as far south as Cuba.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:1982-1983 El Nino Event
1982 meteorology
1983 meteorology
El Niño-Southern Oscillation events