What is El Niño?

This year’s El Niño is set to be the biggest yet. But what exactly is it? And why does it cause such differing weather patterns across the world? CrowdScience Listener Kennedy in Kenya has been hearing a lot about it. He’s a farmer and wants to know exactly how it might affect his town and his crops.

Knowing that it originates in the Pacific Ocean, Anand Jagatia attempts to get straight to the source via a chat with Peruvian biologist Rosa Vasquez Espinosa. She tells Anand about the extreme rain and drought Peru has already witnessed, and how Peruvian fishermen first observed the warming of their ocean hundreds of years ago. They lamented the lack of fish, while on land the deserts flourished under unprecedented rainfall.

So why is it happening? Equipped with a water tray, some bright orange oil and a hairdryer, oceanographer Ligin Joseph demonstrates how trade winds cause the ocean near Peru to warm up. This, in turn, warms both nearby oceans and the atmosphere above it, which has consequences for weather patterns all over the world.

But what can Kennedy, and the rest of us, do about it? Rosa Vasquez Espinosa explains how indigenous Peruvian methods of water harvesting and crop diversification were employed to build resilience during similar conditions hundreds of years ago.

Meanwhile, back in Kenya, meteorologist Hannah Kimani shares how she and her team have been honing their fourteen day forecasts and collaborating with others. This will hopefully give people like Kennedy the best chance of being prepared for El Niño and its extreme impacts.