Why did El Nino cause heavy rain in Ecuador and Peru in 2017?
As you know, the coastal areas of southern Ecuador and Peru belong to areas that
The strongest impact of the El Niño Southern Oscillation phenomenon, however, the impact and dynamics of the development of climate patterns during those events are poorly understood due to their fragmentation.
Observational networks despite neutral to cold conditions after the collapse of the 2015/16 El Niño
In the central Pacific, the coastal region was affected by torrential rains in 2017, which caused flooding and erosion. and landslides with high casualties and significant damage to infrastructure. A new network of X-band weather radar systems in southern Ecuador and northern Peru allowed for the first time high-resolution spatio-temporal monitoring of rainfall dynamics, also covering the 2017 event. Isolated sea surface warming in the El Niño region of Ecuador and Peru, temperature was the primary driver of heavy precipitation, but local weather patterns were modified.
with topography interacting with the synoptic situation. High resolution radar data, for the first time
time, allowed to monitor previously unknown local spots of extreme rainfall during ENSO-related periods
Extreme events, associated with dynamic flow convergence initiated by low-level thermal winds. Overall, the 2017 coastal El Niño produced positive rainfall anomalies in the region at the same time. coastal plain and on the eastern slopes of the Andes, the latter usually associated only with Laniania.