Question

ASSERTION: The EI Nino, a cold ocean current, flows along the coast of Peru during Christmas.
REASON: The presence of the EI Nino leads to an increase in sea – surface temperatures and weakening of the trade winds in the region.
A. Both A and R are true and R explains A.
B. Both A and R are true but R does not explain A.
C. A is true and R is false.
D. A is false and R is true.

Answer 1

Hint: El Nino is referred to a weak, warm current occurring annually around Christmas time along the coast of Ecuador and Peru. It lasts for only a few weeks to a month or more. Some of the El Nino incidents have prevailed more than one year.

Complete answer: Assertion: The EI Nino, a cold ocean current, flows along the coast of Peru during Christmas.
The assertion statement is wrong because El Nino is a weak, warm current which generates in the month of December. Hence, the assertion is false.
Reason: The presence of the EI Nino leads to an increase in sea – surface temperatures and weakening of the trade winds in the region.

The El Nino generally occurs once in every 4-5 years. It displaces the cold Peru Ocean current flowing along the Peru coast. Under natural conditions, Peru is a cold water current, while over the Western Pacific, the ocean current is warm and deep. The arrival of El Nino offsets the situations there and formulates warm conditions over eastern Pacific and cold conditions in the Western Pacific. This factor is associated with the Southern Oscillation occurring between the Pacific and the Indian Oceans and eventually leads to weak monsoons in the subcontinent because of the weakening of the trade winds.
El Nino also generates extensive and severe alterations in the climate. Convection above calmer surface waters brings high precipitation. Rainfall increases drastically in Ecuador and northern Peru, rendering coastal flooding and erosion.

Hence, the correct option is d. Rest all options stand irrelevant.

Note: - Ocean currents are steered by wind, water density differences, and tides.They illustrate the movement of water from one location to another.
- The El Nino effect causes changes in the pressure conditions over the southern oceans also affect the monsoons in India.
-This effect also decreases the upwelling of cooler, nutrient-rich waters from the deep ,closing down or offsetting ocean currents along the equator and along the west coast of South and Central America.