- One another adverse affect of global warming is the increased sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the western Indian Ocean, off the East coast of Africa, and lowered SSTs in the eastern Indian Ocena, off the Sumatra Java coast, Indonesia.
- These large anomalies in SSTs may lead to torrential rains in east coast of Africa and drought and forest fires in Indonesia.
- Although this has happened before, studies have indicated that their frequency is likely to increase 3-fold.
- Increased SSTs may also weaken the oceanic currents due to faster warming which will in turn lead to frequent occurrences of wind and oceanic currents reversal.
- While under normal conditions these currents flow from west to east, heat is transferred horizontally to the westward flowing wind. This flow carries warm water and convection in western longitudes of the Indian Ocean region resulting in extreme rainfall in East African countries.
- Read at: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-sci-tech-and-agri/extreme-events-in-indian-ocean-region/article6106063.ece
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