Category: South America

The energy contrast between the equator and the pole is intensified by the warm water masses off the coast of Ecuador and Peru. This results in a strengthening of the South Atlantic high, which in turn blocks the ITCZ’s shift to the south via South America. As a result, the north-east of Brazil no longer comes into the area of ​​influence of the maximum intra-tropical convection and the associated heavy rainfall in the southern summer.

The resulting lack of precipitation in El Niño years is exacerbated by a number of other weather anomalies. With the South Atlantic high, the cold Benguela Current is also stimulated, which causes the water temperatures in the central Atlantic to drop after a while. The cold water wave finally reaches the coast of northeast Brazil from the east. There, with the cooling of the water masses, the sea evaporation is reduced and less water vapor is supplied to the trade winds flowing to the coast. At the same time, the negative deviation in water temperatures lowers the Passatin version and thus prevents the formation of high convection clouds. This also leads to a weakening of the precipitation, which is normally caused by the onshore trade winds.

Due to the strengthening of the South Atlantic high, the North Atlantic high pressure area is mostly weakened. This also weakens the sea currents of the cold Canary Current – the surface temperatures of the sea in the northern Atlantic rise. This anomaly is a further element in the system of global interaction of weather phenomena. It leads to a stronger convection of air masses over the North Atlantic in the range of five to ten degrees north latitude. In contrast, the air masses descend over northeastern Brazil, whereby the high surface albedo of the dry land areas promotes the relative descent movements of the air. For more information about the continent of South America, please check ethnicityology.com.