Concerns rise as El Nino approaches

By Steff Gaulter - Al Jazeera

The waters of the Pacific are moving and in Australia farmers are getting nervous. El Niño, the natural phenomenon known to bring turmoil to global weather patterns, is back.

Over the last couple of months the waters of the Pacific have shifted and the first impacts are already being seen.

During a 'normal' year, the prevailing winds push the warm surface waters of the Pacific toward Indonesia. This makes the waters there about 8°C warmer and half a metre higher than the waters along the west coast of South America.

During El Niño, the winds ease and this allows warmer waters to well up along the west coast of South America, around Peru and Ecuador.

The change is tiny, just a couple of degrees Celsius, but it has a dramatic affect.

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