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| Peru. Ica. Dunes east of Nazca. Between the Pacific Ocean and the first Slopes of the Andes Cordillera lies a narrow, 2,300-kilometer (1,400-mile) band of coastal desert, which continues on further south into the Atacama Desert of Chile. The cold Humboldt ocean current flowing up from southern Chile cools and stabilizes the coastal air masses, which cannot rise up to the slopes of the mountains. For a least half the year an intense fog, the garua, forms, causing high humidity, but rarely accompanied by rain. This climate stability is disrupted every four to seven years by arrival of the warm current known as El Nino, “the child” (referring to the infant Jesus). Around Christmas, when warming of the surface waters creates a strong convection over the equatorial Pacific, trade winds die down and allow a warm current to pass through to the coast of Peru, bringing with it torrential rain that causes serious damage. Without the upwelling of the cold, nutrient-rich water, the anchovy banks disappear, devastating the fishing industry. Although it has its roots in the Pacific Ocean, the El Nino phenomenon can affect weather on a global scale. |
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