Hello and welcome to Spotlight. I’m Marina Santee.

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　　And I’m Steve Myersco. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.

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　　‘The crops are going to be affected because there is no rain. The weather office said there would be an early rainy season. Farmers believed them. They planted their seeds early. The long dry period of time has now damaged these small plants.’

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　　These were the words of Jagdish Pradham, a farmer from India. In 2009 the country suffered from too little rain. Normally the rainy season starts in June. But in June 2009, many parts of India had almost no rain. Farmers had to wait for weeks until the rainy season started. This damaged their harvest.

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　　Today’s Spotlight looks at the cause of this delay in India’s rainy season. This same cause also affects the weather all over the world.

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　　The delay in India’s rainy season was caused by El Ni?o. El Ni?o is a weather system that starts in the Pacific Ocean. It can change the weather over much of the Earth.

　　The full name for this system is El Ni?o Southern Oscillation. But it is normally just called El Ni?o. This is a Spanish name. It means ‘the boy’ in English. Fishermen living in Peru and Ecuador gave the weather system this name. El Ni?o is also one name for Jesus Christ, when he was a baby. The fishermen called the weather system El Ni?o because it often first appears at Christmas, just as Jesus first appeared at Christmas.

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　　But what is El Ni?o? Well, scientists do not know exactly. They know how it happens, but not why. Lisa Ayers Lawrence works for the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. She teaches others about the sea. She says that El Ni?o is caused by a change in how the ocean current flows.

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　　‘In the southern Pacific Ocean, the main current flows north along the coast of South America. Then at the equator it turns towards the west. It heads towards Indonesia and Australia. It brings heavy rain to Indonesia and South East Asia. Also at the equator, the wind is blowing west. This helps to push the currents even more westerly. This causes the ocean water to collect on the western side of the Pacific Ocean. An El Ni?o event begins when these winds ease. Once this wind eases up, water begins flowing back towards the east. The current begins flowing toward South America. As warm ocean water heads towards South America, it brings with it the rains that normally fall on Indonesia.’

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　　In the area west of the Pacific Ocean, El Ni?o generally causes drier weather. This includes places such as Australia, India and even the East Coast of Africa. Places on the east side of the Pacific, particularly South America, normally experience wetter weather. In El Ni?o years, there are also fewer huge storms - hurricanes - in North America.

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　　Currently, scientists can not say exactly when an El Ni?o will happen, or how serious it will be. It is also very difficult to know exactly what weather an El Ni?o will cause. Scientists do know that El Ni?o events normally happen every two to seven years. They know that some El Ni?os are worse than others. The last very big one was in 1998. It caused severe and unusual weather in the area around the Pacific Ocean. People were killed by floods in some areas. In others people were killed by lack of water, and forest fires. Scientists estimate that in total the El Ni?o killed about two thousand people. The El Ni?o in 1998 also raised the global temperature. Scientists recorded 1998 as the hottest year in history.

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　　El Ni?o has only been studied by scientist in recent years. But it may have affected many people and events through history. For example, the Moche people lived in Peru about 1500 years ago. After a huge El Ni?o that lasted many years, the kingdom died out. Did the weather system cause this community to disappear?

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　　In 1789 many people in France did not have enough food. This was one of the reasons that they revolted against the king. The El Ni?o that happened at that time could have caused the lack of food, and so caused the revolution.

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　　El Ni?o can even affect sports events. One study has looked at what happens when Australia play England at cricket. Cricket games are often affected by the weather. Games are affected by how dry the field is and how dry the air is. Scientists found that when there was an El Ni?o in that year, there was a much greater chance of Australia winning.

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　　El Ni?o can also affect sports in other ways. For the people organising the 2010 winter Olympics, El Ni?o was a big problem. In the few months before the Olympics, Vancouver in Canada was warmer and drier than usual. So the question was asked - how can there be a winter Olympics without snow?! However, in the mountains near Vancouver, there was much more snow than usual. The Winter Olympic organisers did not know if there would be too much snow for the competition, or too little!

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　　The organisers’ job would have been easier if there was no El Ni?o. It may also have been easier if El Ni?o’s sister had appeared. La Ni?a is the opposite weather system to El Ni?o. La Ni?a means ‘the little girl’. It happens when parts of the Pacific Ocean become cooler. This normally has the opposite effect on the weather around the Pacific Ocean. Areas such as Australia, Indonesia and India experience wetter weather. On the other side of the Pacific, South America experiences drier weather. The last La Ni?a was in 2008. La Ni?a was then replaced by El Ni?o during 2009.

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　　Thankfully, the El Ni?o of 2009 was not as serious as the one that happened in 1998. But some countries west of the Pacific did suffer from poor crops. In India, farmers were able to help by planting extra crops for the winter harvest. The greatest help will be if scientists can say when and how an El Ni?o will affect the Pacific area. Scientists continue to work to achieve this. Until they do, El Ni?o will remain one of our planet’s many mysteries.

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　　The writer and producer of today’s programme was Steve Myersco. The voices you heard were from the United Kingdom and the United States. This programme is called “Changing the Weather: El Ni?o”. Thank you for listening today, goodbye.