This video contains European Remote Sensing satellite data of the El Nino phenomenon and associated forest fires in South East Asia, plus global animation sequences utilising recordings from the radar altimeter and along-track-scanning-radiometer instruments.
1. About El Nino
The ""El Nino-Southern Oscillation"" (ENSO) is a periodical climate variability. It can cause floods and droughts and has impact on the ecosystem and on economic activities like agriculture and fishing in the Pacific region. ENSO is of worldwide concern because it affects many countries (Southern America, Australia, India, Africa, etc.) and may have an impact on the climate of the nothern hemisphere.
ENSO events occurred during the past centuries and - there is also evidence - over the past thousand years. In the years 1982-1983 a stronger than normal event occurred; successively in 1991 an anomalously long period started. Climatic indicators, early in 1997, detected the development of another event.
ENSO is a coupled ocean (El