Full transcript
0:00Just imagine if a giant natural fan that
0:02helps cool the Eastern Pacific suddenly
0:05stopped working. And that's exactly
0:07what's happening right now. It's called
0:09El Nino and this one is already being
0:11called a super El Nino. You see this
0:13giant fan is actually made up of steady
0:15winds known as the trade winds which
0:17blow from east to west. For centuries
0:20these winds help sailing ships cross the
0:21Pacific Ocean. They push warm surface
0:24water toward Indonesia and northern
0:25Australia where it fuels tropical
0:27rainfall. And off the coasts of Peru and
0:29southern Ecuador the water stays cold
0:31helping keep the coastal climate dry.
0:33But every two to seven years these trade
0:35winds weaken allowing warm water to
0:37spread back east and bringing water
0:39temperatures here one or two degrees
0:40above normal. And that's enough to make
0:42the weather go crazy around the world.
0:45It can bring warmer winters to Canada,
0:47heavier rain to the southern United
0:48States and flooding to parts of South
0:50America while Indonesia and Australia
0:52face drought. In the 1870s a powerful El
0:55Nino was one of the factors behind a
0:57famine that took the lives of an
0:58estimated 3% of the world's population.
1:01And now scientists think the current El
1:03Nino could be the strongest ever
1:05recorded with water temperatures in the
1:06Eastern Pacific [music] expected to rise
1:08more than 3 degrees. As the ocean
1:10releases heat into the atmosphere and
1:12raises global temperatures 2027 could
1:14become the hottest year ever recorded.