Cultural Responses to Environmental Catastrophes: Post-El Niño Subsistence on the Prehistoric North Coast of Peru

1991 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerry D. Moore
Keyword(s):  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Enso Event ◽  
North Coast ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Enso Events ◽  
The North ◽  
Cultural Responses ◽  
North Coast Of Peru

Recent debate about the development of complex societies on the north coast of Peru has turned on the relative importance of marine vs. terrestrial resources and the extent to which different resource zones are upset by El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events. While ENSO events are cited frequently as having important consequences for Prehispanic Andean societies, in fact there are few archaeological data about the nature of cultural responses to a specific ENSO event. Archaeological data from two Chimu settlements in the Casma Valley, Peru—Quebrada Sta. Cristina and Manchan—document the occurrence of a fourteenth-century A.D. ENSO event and some of the cultural responses to that prehistoric El Niño.

scholarly journals El Niño resilience farming on the north coast of Peru

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (39) ◽  
pp. 24127-24137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ari Caramanica ◽  
Luis Huaman Mesia ◽  
Claudia R. Morales ◽  
Gary Huckleberry ◽  
Luis Jaime Castillo B. ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
El Niño Southern Oscillation ◽  
North Coast ◽  
El Nino Southern Oscillation ◽  
Pollen Record ◽  
The North ◽  
The Face ◽  
North Coast Of Peru

El Niño–Southern Oscillation has been treated as a disruptor of environmental and socioeconomic equilibrium both in ancient times and in modern-day Peru. Recent work in the coastal desert plain, known as the Pampa de Mocan, challenges this view by demonstrating that prehispanic irrigation systems were designed to incorporate floods and convert them into productive waters. Archaeological investigations in this landscape reveal a 2,000-y history of floodwater farming embedded in conventional canal systems. Together with a pollen record recovered from a prehispanic well, these data suggest that the Pampa de Mocan was a flexible landscape, capable of taking advantage of El Niño floodwaters as well as river water. In sharp contrast to modern-day flood mitigation efforts, ancient farmers used floodwaters to develop otherwise marginal landscapes, such as the Pampa de Mocan, which in turn mitigated risk during El Niño years. These archaeological data speak to contemporary policy debates in the face of increasingly intense and frequent natural disasters and question whether El Niño Southern Oscillation events should be approached as a form of temporary disorder or as a form of periodic abundance.

The North Pacific Pacemaker Effect on Historical ENSO and Its Mechanisms

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (22) ◽  
pp. 7643-7661 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dillon J. Amaya ◽  
Yu Kosaka ◽  
Wenyu Zhou ◽  
Yu Zhang ◽  
Shang-Ping Xie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
El Niño ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Deep Convection ◽  
Boreal Summer ◽  
Enso Events ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Pacific

Abstract Studies have indicated that North Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) variability can significantly modulate El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), but there has been little effort to put extratropical–tropical interactions into the context of historical events. To quantify the role of the North Pacific in pacing the timing and magnitude of observed ENSO, we use a fully coupled climate model to produce an ensemble of North Pacific Ocean–Global Atmosphere (nPOGA) SST pacemaker simulations. In nPOGA, SST anomalies are restored back to observations in the North Pacific (>15°N) but are free to evolve throughout the rest of the globe. We find that the North Pacific SST has significantly influenced observed ENSO variability, accounting for approximately 15% of the total variance in boreal fall and winter. The connection between the North and tropical Pacific arises from two physical pathways: 1) a wind–evaporation–SST (WES) propagating mechanism, and 2) a Gill-like atmospheric response associated with anomalous deep convection in boreal summer and fall, which we refer to as the summer deep convection (SDC) response. The SDC response accounts for 25% of the observed zonal wind variability around the equatorial date line. On an event-by-event basis, nPOGA most closely reproduces the 2014/15 and the 2015/16 El Niños. In particular, we show that the 2015 Pacific meridional mode event increased wind forcing along the equator by 20%, potentially contributing to the extreme nature of the 2015/16 El Niño. Our results illustrate the significant role of extratropical noise in pacing the initiation and magnitude of ENSO events and may improve the predictability of ENSO on seasonal time scales.

scholarly journals How unusual was late 20th century El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)? Assessing evidence from tree-ring, coral, ice-core and documentary palaeoarchives, A.D. 1525-2002

2006 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 173-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. L. Gergis ◽  
A. M. Fowler
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Tree Ring ◽  
El Niño ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Enso Event ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
Enso Events ◽  
Proxy Records

Abstract. Multiple proxy records (tree-ring, coral, ice and documentary) were examined to isolate ENSO signals associated with both phases of the phenomenon for the period A.D. 1525-2002. To avoid making large-scale inferences from single proxy analysis, regional signals were aggregated into a network of high-resolution records, revealing large-scale trends in the frequency, magnitude and duration of pre-instrumental ENSO using novel applications of percentile analysis. Here we use the newly introduced coupled ocean-atmosphere ENSO index (CEI) as a baseline for the calibration of proxy records. The reconstruction revealed 83 extreme or very strong ENSO episodes since A.D. 1525, expanding considerably on existing ENSO event chronologies. Significantly, excerpts of the most comprehensive list of La Niña events complied to date are presented, indicating peak activity during the 16th to mid 17th and 20th centuries. Although extreme events are seen throughout the 478-year reconstruction, 43% of the extreme ENSO events noted since A.D. 1525 occur during the 20th century, with an obvious bias towards enhanced El Niño conditions in recent decades. Of the total number of extreme event years reconstructed, 30% of all reconstructed ENSO event years occur post-1940 alone suggesting that recent ENSO variability appears anomalous in the context of the past five centuries.

scholarly journals Influence of Pacific Meridional Mode on ENSO evolution and predictability: Asymmetric modulation and ocean preconditioning

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-61
Author(s):  
Hanjie Fan ◽  
Bohua Huang ◽  
Song Yang ◽  
Wenjie Dong
Keyword(s):  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Heat Content ◽  
Enso Event ◽  
La Niña ◽  
Enso Events ◽  
La Nina ◽  
Meridional Mode ◽  
Pacific Meridional Mode

AbstractThis study investigates the mechanisms behind the Pacific Meridional Mode (PMM) in influencing the development of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event and its seasonal predictability. To examine the relative importance of various factors that may modulate the efficiency of the PMM influence, a series of experiments are conducted for selected ENSO events with different intensity using the Community Earth System Model, in which ensemble predictions are made from slightly different ocean initial states but under a common prescribed PMM surface heat flux forcing. Overall, the matched PMM forcing to ENSO, i.e., a positive (negative) PMM prior to an El Niño (a La Niña), plays an enhancing role, while a mismatched PMM forcing plays a damping role. For the matched cases, a positive PMM event enhances an El Niño more strongly than a negative PMM event enhances a La Niña. This asymmetry in influencing ENSO largely originates from the asymmetry in intensity between the positive and negative PMM events in the tropics, which can be explained by the nonlinearity in the growth and equatorward propagation of the PMM-related anomalies of sea surface temperature (SST) and surface zonal wind through both wind-evaporation-SST feedback and summer deep convection response. Our model results also indicate that the PMM acts as a modulator rather than a trigger for the occurrence of ENSO event. Furthermore, the response of ENSO to an imposed PMM forcing is modulated by the preconditioning of the upper-ocean heat content, which provides the memory for the coupled low-frequency evolution in the tropical Pacific.

ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABILITY ASSOCIATED WITH EASTERN LITTLE TUNA [Eutynnus affinis (Cantor, 1849)] CATCHES: A CASE FOR THE NORTH INDRAMAYU WATERS, JAVA SEA

2016 ◽  
Vol 78 (4-2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mega Syamsuddin ◽  
Sunarto Sunarto ◽  
Lintang Yuliadi
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
El Niño ◽  
Environmental Variability ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Ocean Climate ◽  
Enso Events ◽  
The North ◽  
Favorable Environmental Condition ◽  
Java Sea

Environmental variability during El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) derived from satellite imagery of Sea Surface Temperature and Chlorophyll a were investigated during 2010 to 2014. This study investigates how ocean climate variability of ENSO affects environmental conditions and further addresses their relations with Eastern Little Tuna catches. Changes in environmental conditions during ENSO events resulted in perceivable variations in catches, with an average catches of 839.6 t during El Niño. The La Niña event, with an average catches of 602.6 t was less favorable for catches. Major fishing location located around 3.22-6.59ºS and 108.20-109.67ºE could have been suggested as the most favorable environmental condition to Eastern Little Tuna catch in the North Indramayu waters, Java Sea.

scholarly journals A Pilot Study Examining U.S. Winter Cyclone Frequency Patterns Associated with Three ENSO Parameters

1998 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 2152-2159 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Noel ◽  
David Changnon
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Enso Event ◽  
La Niña ◽  
Enso Events ◽  
La Nina ◽  
Cyclone Frequency

Abstract Teleconnections were used to link three El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) parameters to winter (December–February) cyclone frequencies over the United States during the 1949–96 period. Since each ENSO event is not exactly the same, small subsets of ENSO events were examined in addition to the more common composite ENSO event. Mean winter cyclone frequencies, derived by counting cyclones passing through 30, 5° latitude equal-area circles located in a grid from 70° to 120°W and 30° to 50°N were determined for classes of El Niños and La Niñas based on 1) the intensity of the equatorial Pacific sea surface temperature anomaly, 2) the intensity of the Tahiti–Darwin sea level pressure anomaly, and 3) the location of the 28°C isotherm. The average cyclone count for each class of El Niño and La Niña was compared to the average count for winters when no ENSO event occurred. Expected differences in cyclone frequency patterns when comparing an average of all El Niño winters to all La Niña winters were found; however, large pattern differences were also determined when comparing winters with strong El Niños to moderate–weak El Niños and similarly for La Niñas. Significant differences in number of cyclones were found in 8 of 30 circles located in the Pacific Northwest, the Great Lakes, New England, and the Southeast. The differences found in the cyclone frequency patterns for El Niños and La Niñas of different intensities and locations indicated that using a composite of all El Niños or La Niñas may provide misleading information while examination of each of these parameters independently may assist in the preparation of long-range climate predictions.

scholarly journals Spurious North Tropical Atlantic precursors to El Niño

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenjun Zhang ◽  
Feng Jiang ◽  
Malte F. Stuecker ◽  
Fei-Fei Jin ◽  
Axel Timmermann
Keyword(s):  
El Niño ◽  
Cross Correlation ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Tropical Atlantic ◽  
The North ◽  
Sst Variability ◽  
Primary Driver ◽  
North Tropical Atlantic

AbstractThe El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the primary driver of year-to-year global climate variability, is known to influence the North Tropical Atlantic (NTA) sea surface temperature (SST), especially during boreal spring season. Focusing on statistical lead-lag relationships, previous studies have proposed that interannual NTA SST variability can also feed back on ENSO in a predictable manner. However, these studies did not properly account for ENSO’s autocorrelation and the fact that the SST in the Atlantic and Pacific, as well as their interaction are seasonally modulated. This can lead to misinterpretations of causality and the spurious identification of Atlantic precursors for ENSO. Revisiting this issue under consideration of seasonality, time-varying ENSO frequency, and greenhouse warming, we demonstrate that the cross-correlation characteristics between NTA SST and ENSO, are consistent with a one-way Pacific to Atlantic forcing, even though the interpretation of lead-lag relationships may suggest otherwise.

scholarly journals The Response of Tropical Atmospheric Energy Budgets to ENSO*

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (13) ◽  
pp. 4710-4724 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Mayer ◽  
Kevin E. Trenberth ◽  
Leopold Haimberger ◽  
John T. Fasullo
Keyword(s):  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Warm Pool ◽  
Smooth Transition ◽  
Energy Budgets ◽  
Enso Events ◽  
El Niño Modoki ◽  
Static Energy ◽  
The Tropics

Abstract The variability of zonally resolved tropical energy budgets in association with El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is investigated. The most recent global atmospheric reanalyses from 1979 to 2011 are employed with removal of apparent discontinuities to obtain best possible temporal homogeneity. The growing length of record allows a more robust analysis of characteristic patterns of variability with cross-correlation, composite, and EOF methods. A quadrupole anomaly pattern is found in the vertically integrated energy divergence associated with ENSO, with centers over the Indian Ocean, the Indo-Pacific warm pool, the eastern equatorial Pacific, and the Atlantic. The smooth transition, particularly of the main maxima of latent and dry static energy divergence, from the western to the eastern Pacific is found to require at least two EOFs to be adequately described. The canonical El Niño pattern (EOF-1) and a transition pattern (EOF-2; referred to as El Niño Modoki by some authors) form remarkably coherent ENSO-related anomaly structures of the tropical energy budget not only over the Pacific but throughout the tropics. As latent and dry static energy divergences show strong mutual cancellation, variability of total energy divergence is smaller and more tightly coupled to local sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies and is mainly related to the ocean heat discharge and recharge during ENSO peak phases. The complexity of the structures throughout the tropics and their evolution during ENSO events along with their interactions with the annual cycle have often not been adequately accounted for; in particular, the El Niño Modoki mode is but part of the overall evolutionary patterns.

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