How much impact does weather and climate have on humanity? Are we so intelligent and adaptive that we can overcome whatever the environment throws at us? Can we adjust to the looming global warming through the use of technology? Couper-Johnston contends that history records almost universal inability to cope with sudden and intense weather events. In this in-depth study, he chronicles sudden changes in wind and rainfall and how humanity coped with the result. Even when it was known that some extremes were to be expected in certain areas, human planning proved woefully inadequate. Devastated crops, intense drought, flash floods, and episodes of human suffering have all resulted from quirks in weather patterns. The driving force behind these anomalies lies in the Western Pacific.
Under "normal" conditions, the wind and current pattern moves westward across the Central Pacific. The "Equatorial Trade Winds" and their associated movement of sea water, drove the Kon Tiki across the Pacific in under a hundred days. Uninterrupted, the current draws a wealth of sea and bird life to the west coast of South America. The force is strong enough to pile water in the New Guinea area up to 60 cm above the level off Peru. If that pattern changes and the westward winds and currents are interrupted, savage storms lash South America while India, China and Malaysia suffer drought. The stream of effects continues with varying impact over all tropical areas.
The tropics are not alone in suffering from the change. Known as El Nino, for its frequency of Christmas-time appearances in the Eastern Pacific, this reversed weather pattern has been felt in Pharonic Egypt and North America. Couper-Johnston traces the growth of knowledge of El Nino and the attempts to forecast its appearance and impact. From a basic description of the mechanics of El Nino, he goes on to give a chronology of the events and their impact on human societies. Although there have been several books recently published on the phenomenon, Couper-Johnston's is by far the most comprehensive. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
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