Prolonged strong wind events are like pull-cords that start engines. Big winds exert enough energy to start natural hydraulic engines of unimaginable size and force.
We’ve all read about upwelling in the ocean and how the cold nutrient-rich water it brings from the depths nourishes the topwater and nearshore portions of the sea.
Prolonged winds are one of the key starters of this process, which is capable of moving millions of acre feet of deepwater up towards the surface by first shoving the topwater aside to create low pressure, sucking deeper water upwards.
The energy needed to drive the forces necessary to move that volume of water upward is what boggles my imagination. Everyplace that water moves from develops a void or low pressure that will be filled from somewhere else.
That evolving process helps create currents which can range in size from local to ocean-wide proportions. Currents become another force that can bring food to local critters, and it is no coincident that feeding fish often face into the current because that is where much of their food comes from; it’s the way their world works, so they learn and adapt.
Warm, clear El Niño water is very hard on the low end of the food chain, so big wind and big upwelling is important because it keeps those tiny organisms and critters alive and healthy. That in turn helps bigger critters — like the ones we catch and feed our families with — live through El Niño.
This current El Niño has surprised us by becoming a multi-year event, so the forces it drives have more evolving time to build momentum and power. As an experienced sea captain, my feeling is that this El Niño is not nearly done with us, and is saving some heavy punches it has yet to astonish us with.
We expected a major post-El Niño wet winter, and we only got about normal rain (more or less). With a multi-year event however, will the post-event winter be truly massive, or will El Niño peter out at an unusual time of year and lose much of its ability to generate major winter storm systems for our geographic area?
We’ll have to wait and see on that part.
For now, we had a solid week of horrendous winds, and now we’ve had a period of calm during which the effects of the wind-driven upwelling spread out and manifested themselves by bringing the upwelled water from the depths of the sea.
Ma Nature is going through some changes, and knowing her, we’re going to hear about it! I just wish I could tell you exactly how.
— Capt. David Bacon operates WaveWalker Charters and is president of SOFTIN Inc., a nonprofit organization providing seafaring opportunities for those in need. Visit softininc.blogspot.com to learn more about the organization and how you can help. Click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.
