Senamhi: how does the South Pacific Anticyclone influence the current temperature?

The National Meteorological and Hydrological Service (Senamhi) announced that the South Pacific Anticyclone will be close to the continent during the following days, indicating that this atmospheric system will generate an increase in wind in the Peruvian coast.

In addition, it will favor the presence of cloudiness, fog, mist and isolated drizzle in the early hours of the morning, mainly in districts near the coast.

This panorama that occurs in the current autumn season leads us again to ask ourselves: What is the South Pacific anticyclone? How does it originate? How does it influence the temperature currently recorded on the coast of Peru and in other weather events? Below are the answers to these and other questions.

South Pacific anticyclone

According to Senamhi, the South Pacific anticyclone is an atmospheric system with a function over the Pacific Ocean to maintain normal conditions of dry and cold air on some occasions, especially on the Peruvian coast, through the circulation of the Trade winds in an easterly direction. west. This allows the cold Humboldt maritime current to reach the Peruvian coast.

The South Pacific anticyclone is the cause of the extreme arid climate that characterizes the Pacific Desert, which is located in the north of Chile (Atacama Desert) and the coast of Peru (coastal desert).

This high pressure system plays an important role as a driver of the southeast Pacific trade winds and as one of the elements of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) weather pattern.

How does the anticyclone originate?

The anticyclone is part of a very large atmospheric circulation, globally speaking, and is part of the so-called “Hadley Circulation”. The anticyclone is controlled by the “Warm Ridge,” which keeps the Pacific anticyclone in a semi-permanent position.

When the cold current replaces the warm ridge, it allows the anticyclone to become even more mobile in the winter, which means that the winds are channeled stronger than normal over the Peruvian territory thanks to the coastal mountain range.

How does the anticyclone affect Peru?

In the climatic sphere, the South Pacific anticyclone influences the decrease in the temperature with greater cold and more frequent occurrence of drizzle, especially on the southern and central coast.

While, in the fishing panorama, the anticyclone favors the presence of the Humboldt Current and with it the availability of nutrients brought from Antarctica for the various species of fish and other hydrobiological resources that live and reproduce in the rich Peruvian sea.