NASA Explains Why Peru’s Seas Warmed Up and Triggered Extreme Rainfall

The harsh crisis that hit northern Peru due to the passage of Cyclone Yaku — and now by the presence of The coastal child— drew the attention of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa), which has published a series of satellite images to understand and explain the behavior of coastal waters and, above all, the nature of these phenomena in the national territory.

Through a report, the agency has detailed and clarified why the Peruvian sea has warmed up, and how this has influenced the presence of torrential rains, which have seriously affected thousands of inhabitants of cities such as Piura, Tumbes, Lambayaque and other cities located in northern Peru.

Thus, until March, 1,312 houses were destroyed, 3,147 uninhabitable and 19,711 affected, as well as 57 classrooms destroyed, 632 affected and 172 uninhabitable.

Considering this, the Nasa He said that this case is very similar to the one that the north endured in 2017 with the presence of the El Niño phenomenon which, during the months of January and March of that year, affected 1.9 million people in following the rains, floods and mudslides. . Thousands of people have been left in a state of utter vulnerability.

Through the article entitled “Water heating and showers in Peru”published on April 7 this year, the US space agency revealed that the long period of abnormally low sea surface temperatures in the tropical, central and eastern Pacific ended in February 2023.

Given this, he details that for several years the sea temperature has been between 0.5. and 1.0°C lower than average, due to extended duration “triple dip” La Niña, but the situation took a turn in February 2023, when shifting winds, influenced by Cyclone Yaku, stopped the upwelling of cold water off the coasts of Peru and Ecuador.

“This pushed sea surface temperatures above 27C, accelerating evaporation, making the air more humid and fueling the formation of high convective clouds that produce showers and thunderstorms. The situation is similar to that of 2017, the last time a coastal El Niño flooded the region with rain,” explained René Garreaud, environmental scientist at the University of Chile, quoted by the Nasa.

The satellite images shown by the Nasa reveal sea surface temperature anomalies on April 4, 2023. Surface waters were about 6°C warmer than normal off the Peruvian coast on that date.

In this regard, he also explained that the increase in surface temperatures of the Pacific Ocean above normal has been significant enough for the Peruvian National Service of Meteorology and Hydrology (Senamhi) to indicate that it is now undergoing the presence of The coastal child. The entity clarified that its continuity is expected at least until the winter season of this year, with a moderate magnitude, and has not ruled out that in the coming weeks it will reach a strong magnitude.

For its part, the ENFEN Multisectoral Commission also specified that our country is developing the phenomenon of The coastal childit is therefore important that the authorities take action in the presence of rain, mudslides and floods.

“In connection with this warming and according to the current seasonal precipitation forecast for the April-June quarter of 2023, above-normal precipitation is expected, mainly in April, on the northern and central coast, as well as on the northern highlands. and from the center. western part of the country,” he said in his report published on March 30.