El Niño Southern Oscillation and enhanced arid land vegetation productivity in NW South America

What is it about?

el Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a climatic event that periodically causes anomalous amounts of rainfall on the desert Pacific Coast of South America. These events are conventionally seen as disastrous. However, we demonstrate there is a significant vegetation response following ENSO rainfall. Levels of vegetation productivity are high and last for several months. This suggests that ENSO events are crucial for arid-adapted vegetation in the Peruvian desert, and suggests that ENSO might play a critical ecological role for other species that take advantage of this productivity.

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