Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

The 1877–1878 El Niño episode: associated impacts in South America

  • Published:
Climatic Change Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

At times when attention on climate issues is strongly focused on the assessment of potential impacts of future climate change due to the intensification of the planetary greenhouse effect, it is perhaps pertinent to look back and explore the consequences of past climate variability. In this article we examine a large disruption in global climate that occurred during 1877–1878, when human influence was negligible. The mechanisms explaining this global disturbance are not well established, but there is considerable evidence that the major El Niño episode that started by the end of 1876 and peaked during the 1877–1878 boreal winter contributed significantly to it. The associated regional climate anomalies were extremely destructive, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere, where starvation due to intense droughts in Asia, South-East Asia and Africa took the lives of more than 20 million people. In South America regional precipitation anomalies were typical of El Niño events, with rainfall deficit and droughts in the northern portion of the continent as well as in northeast Brazil and the highlands of the central Andes (Altiplano). In contrast, anomalously intense rainfall and flooding episodes were reported for the coastal areas of southern Ecuador and Northern Perú, as well as along the extratropical West coast of the continent (central Chile, 30° S–40° S), and in the Paraná basin in the southeast region. By far the most devastating impacts in terms of suffering and loss of life occurred in the semiarid region of northeast Brazil where several hundreds of thousands of people died from starvation and diseases during the drought that started in 1877.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aceituno P (1988) On the functioning of the Southern Oscillation in the South American sector. Part I: surface climate. Mon Wea Rev 116:505–524

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aceituno P (1989) On the functioning of the Southern Oscillation in the South American sector. Part II: upper-air circulation. J Climate 2:341–355

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aceituno P, Garreaud R (1995) The impact of the ENSO phenomenon in the rainfall regime along the Andes cordillera. Rev Chilena Ing Hidráulica 10(2):33–43

    Google Scholar 

  • Aceituno P, Vidal F (1990) Variabilidad interanual en el caudal de ríos andinos de Chile Central en relación con la temperatura de la superficie del mar en el Pacífico Central. Rev Sociedad Ing Hidráulica 5(1):7–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Aiskis E (1984) La gran crecida del río Paraná de 1983. Boletín Informativo N° 232:3–53. Organización Techint, Buenos Aires

  • Allan RJ, Ansell TJ (2006) A new globally-complete monthly historical gridded mean sea level pressure data set (HadSLP2): 1850–2003. J Climate 19:5816–5842

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allan R, Lindesay J, Parker D (1996) El Niño Southern Oscillation and climatic variability. CSIRO Publishing, Australia

    Google Scholar 

  • Arteaga K, Tutasi P, Jiménez R (2006) Climatic variability related to El Niño in Ecuador—a historical background. Adv Geosci 6:237–241

    Google Scholar 

  • Barra de Cobo M (1878) El Paso de Los Andes. Editorial Claridad, Mendoza

    Google Scholar 

  • Basadre J (1969) Historia de la República del Perú 1822–1933. Ed., Vol VIII, 6th edn. Universitaria, Lima

    Google Scholar 

  • Berlage HP (1957) Fluctuations in the general atmospheric circulation of more than one year, their nature and prognostic value. K Ned Meteor Inst Meded Vehr 69:1–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Berlage HP (1966) The Southern Oscillation and world weather. K Ned Meteor Inst Meded Verh 88:1–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Bjerknes J (1966) A possible response of the atmosphere Hadley circulation to equatorial anomalies of ocean temperature. Tellus 18:820–829

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bjerknes J (1969) Atmospheric teleconnections from the equatorial Pacific. Mon Wea Rev 97:163–172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Camilloni I, Barros V (2000) The Parana River response to El Niño 1982–83 and 1997–98 events. J Hydrometeorology 1(5):412–430

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carbo P (1881) Estudios y conceptos referentes al dragado del Río Guayas y sus afluentes. Colección Universidad de Guayaquil, N° 6. Universidad de Guayaquil, Ecuador

    Google Scholar 

  • Carranza L (1892) Contracorriente observada en Paita y Pacasmayo en 1891. Bol Soc Geog Lima 2:344–345

    Google Scholar 

  • Carrillo C (1892) Hidrografía oceánica: Las corrientes oceánicas y estudios de la Corriente Peruana ó de Humboldt. Bol Soc Geog Lima 2:72–110

    Google Scholar 

  • Caviedes CN (1973) Secas and El Niño: two simultaneous climatical hazards in South America. Proc Assoc Amer Geogr 5:44–49

    Google Scholar 

  • Compagnucci R, Vargas W (1993) Snowfall in the Cordillera de Los Andes and the ENSO events. In: Preprint 4th international conference on southern hemisphere heteorology and oceanography, Hobart—Australia, 29 March–2 April 1993

  • Costa MCL (2004) Medical theories and urban management: Fortaleza’s 1877–79 drought. Historia Ciencias Saude Manguinhos 11:57–74

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis M (2001) Late Victorian holocausts: El Niño famines and the making of the third world. Ed. Verso, London

  • Depettris CA, Rohrmann HR (1998) Las crecidas e inundaciones recurrentes en el litoral argentino. Revista Vivienda 431:14–16, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Google Scholar 

  • Diaz A, Aceituno P (2003) Atmospheric circulation anomalies during episodes of enhanced and reduced convective cloudiness over Uruguay. J Climate 16:3171–3185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eguiguren V (1894a) Las lluvias de Piura. Bol Soc Geogr Lima 4:241–258

    Google Scholar 

  • Eguiguren V (1894b) Estudios demográficos de la ciudad de Piura—Sección de Demografía y Estadística. Bol Soc Geog Lima 4:68–74

    Google Scholar 

  • Escobar F, Aceituno P (1998) Influencia del fenómeno ENSO sobre la precipitación nival en el sector andino de Chile central durante el invierno. Bull Inst Fr Etudes Andines 27(3):753–759

    Google Scholar 

  • Francou B, Pizarro L (1985) El Niño y la sequía en los altos Andes Centrales: Perú y Bolivia. Bull Inst Fr Etud Andines 14(1–2):1–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Garreaud R (1999) Multiscale analysis of the summertime precipitation over the central Andes. Mon Wea Rev 127:901–921

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garreaud R, Aceituno P (2001) Interannual rainfall variability over the South American Altiplano. J Climate 14:2779–2789

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gioda A, Prieto R (1999) Histoire des sécheresses andines: Potosí, El Niño et le Petit Age Glaciaire. La Météorologie 8(27):33–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldammer JG, Seibert B (1990) The impact of droughts and forest fires on tropical lowland rain forest of Eastern Borneo. In: Goldammer JG (ed) Fire in the tropical biota. Ecosystem processes and global challenges. Ecological studies 84. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenfield G (2001) The realities of images. Imperial Brazil and the great drought. Trans Am Phil Soc 91(1):ii–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grimm AM, Barros V, Doyle ME (2000) Climate variability in Southern South America associated with El Niño and La Niña events. J Climate 13:35–58

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamerly M (1987) Historia social y económica de la antigua provincia de Guayaquil 1763–1842, 2nd edn. Banco Central del Ecuador, Archivo Histórico del Guayas, Guayaquil

    Google Scholar 

  • Hastenrath S (1991) Climate dynamics of the tropics. Kluwer, Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • Hastenrath S (2001) Variations of East African climate during the past two centuries. Clim Change 50:209–217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hastenrath S, Heller L (1977) Dynamics of climatic hazards in Northeast Brazil. Q J R Met Soc 103:77–92

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hastenrath S, Castro LC, Aceituno P (1987) The Southern Oscillation in the tropical Atlantic sector. Contrib Atmos Phys 60:447–463

    Google Scholar 

  • Hocquenghem AM, Ortlieb L (1992) El Niño events and abnormal rainfall along the coast of Perú: XVI–XIX centuries. Bull Inst Fr Etudes Andines 21(1):197–278, (in Spanish)

    Google Scholar 

  • Horel JD, Cornejo-Garrido AG (1986) Convection along the coast of northern Perú during 1983: spatial and temporal variation of cloud and rainfall. Mon Wea Rev 114:2091–2105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huertas L (2001) Diluvios Andinos a través de las fuentes documentales. Fondo Editorial PUCP, Lima

  • Karoly DJ (1989) Southern Hemisphere circulation features associated with El Niño—Southern Oscillation events. J Climate 2:1239–1252

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kiladis G, Diaz HF (1986) An analysis of the 1877–78 ENSO episode and comparison with 1982–83. Mon Wea Rev 114:1035–1047

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kiladis G, Diaz HF (1989) Global climatic anomalies associated with extremes in the Southern Oscillation. J Climate 2:1069–1090

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kousky V (1979) Frontal influences on Northeast Brazil. Mon Wea Rev 107:1140–1153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kousky VE, Kagano MT, Cavalcanti IFA (1984) A review of the Southern Oscillation: oceanic–atmospheric circulation changes and related rainfall anomalies. Tellus 36A:490–504

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lockyer WJS (1906) Barometric variations of long duration over large areas. Proc Roy Soc London 78:43–60

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mabres A, Woodman R, Zeta R (1993) Algunos apuntes históricos adicionales sobre la cronología de El Niño. Bull Inst Fr Etudes Andines 22(1):395–406

    Google Scholar 

  • Montecinos A, Aceituno P (2003) Seasonality of the ENSO-related rainfall variability in Central Chile and associated circulation anomalies. J Climate 16:281–296

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Montecinos A, Diaz A, Aceituno P (2000) Seasonal diagnostic and predictability of rainfall in subtropical South America based on tropical Pacific SST. J Climate 13:746–758

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mossman RC (1914) Southern hemisphere seasonal correlations. Symons’s Met Mag 48:2–6

    Google Scholar 

  • Mossman RC (1923) On Indian rainfall in relation to South American weather. Memoirs Indian Meteor Department 23:157–242

    Google Scholar 

  • Motor Columbus y Asociados (1979) Estudios de crecidas ríos Paraná y Paraguay. Entidad Binacional Yaciretá, Buenos Aires

  • Moura AD, Shukla J (1981) On the dynamics of droughts in northeast Brazil: observation, theory, and numerical experiments with a general circulation model. J Atmos Sci 38:2653–2675

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • NWS/CPC: National Weather Service, Climate Prediction Center, NCEP, NOAA (2007) Monthly atmospheric and SST Indices. http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/data/indices/

  • Ortega L (1999) Las inundaciones en Santiago de Chile durante el invierno de 1877. Anales Inst Ingenieros (Chile) 111(2):58–64

    Google Scholar 

  • Ortlieb L (1994) Major historical rainfalls in central Chile and the chronology of ENSO events during the XVI-XIX centuries. Rev Chilena Historia Natural 67:463–485

    Google Scholar 

  • Ortlieb L (2000) The documented historical record of El Niño events in Perú: an update of the Quinn record (sixteen through nineteen centuries). In: Diaz HF, Markgraf V (eds) El Niño and the Southern Oscillation: multiscale variability and global and regional impacts. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Paoli C, Cacik P (2000) Régimen de crecidas y análisis de caudales máximos. In: Paoli C, Schreider M (eds) El Río Paraná en su tramo medio. Tomo I, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Santa Fe

  • Pentimalli M, Rodríguez G (1988) Las razones de la multitud: hambrunas, motines y subsistencia en Cochabamba (1878–179). Revista Estado y Sociedad, La Paz

  • Pisciottano GJ, Díaz AF, Cazes G et al (1994) El Niño–Southern Oscillation impact on rainfall in Uruguay. J Climate 7:1286–1302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pochat V (1996) Las mayores crecidas en la cuenca del Plata. In: Final report of the inter-American seminar-workshop on reduction of the vulnerability to floods in river basins (Appendix 4.1). Foz de Iguazu, Brazil, 29 Nov–1 Dec 1995.

  • Poveda G, Mesa OJ (1997) Feedbacks between hydrological processes in tropical South America and large-scale ocean–atmospheric phenomena. J Climate 10:2690–2702

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poveda G, Mesa OJ (2000) On the existence of Lloró (the rainiest locality on earth): enhanced ocean–atmosphere–land interaction by a low-level jet. Geophys Res Lett 27:1675–1678

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poveda G, Jaramillo A, Gil MM et al (2001) Seasonality in ENSO related precipitation, river discharges, soil moisture, and vegetation index (NDVI) in Colombia. Water Res 37:2169–2178

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poveda G, Waylen PR, Pulwarty RS (2006) Annual and interannual variability of the present climate in northern South America and southern Mesoamerica. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 234:3–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prieto M, Herrera R, Dussel P (1999) Historical evidences of the Mendoza River streamflow fluctuations and their relationship with ENSO. Holocene 9(4):473–481

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prieto M, Gimeno L, García R et al (2001) Interannual oscillations and trend in the snow occurrence in the Argentine–Chilean Central Andes region since 1885. Australian Meteor Magazine 50(2):164–168

    Google Scholar 

  • Quinn WH, Neal VT (1992) The historical record of El Niño events. In: Bradley RS, Jones PD (eds) Climate since A.D. 1500. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Quinn WH, Zopf DO, Short KS et al (1978) Historical trends and statistics of the Southern Oscillation, El Niño and Indonesian drought. Fish Bull 76:663–678

    Google Scholar 

  • Quinn WH, Neal VT, Antúnez-de-Mayolo S (1987) El Niño occurrences over the past four and a half centuries. J Geophys Res 92(C13):14, 449–14,461

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rasmusson EM, Carpenter TH (1982) Variations in tropical sea surface temperature and surface wind fields associated with the Southern Oscillation/El Niño. Mon Wea Rev 110:354–383

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rayner NA, Parker DE, Horton EB et al (2003) Global analyses of SST, sea ice, and night marine air temperature since the late nineteenth century. J Geophys Res 108:4407 doi:10.1029/2002JD002670

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rogers JC (1988) Precipitation variability in the Caribbean and the tropical Americas associated with the Southern Oscillation. J Climate 1:172–182

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ronchail J (1995) Interannual rainfall variability in Bolivia. Bull Inst Fr Etudes Andines 24(3):369–378, (in Spanish)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ropelewski C, Halpert M (1987) Global and regional scale precipitation associated with El Nino/Southern Oscillation. Mon Wea Rev 115:1606–1626

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ropelewski C, Halpert M (1989) Precipitation patterns associated with the high index phase of the Southern Oscillation. J Climate 2:268–284

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ropelewski CF, Halpert MS (1996) Quantifying Southern Oscillation–precipitation relationships. J Climate 9:1043–1059

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rutllant J, Fuenzalida H (1991) Synoptic aspects of the central Chile rainfall variability associated with the Southern Oscillation. Int J Climatology 11:63–76

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Takahashi K (2004) The atmospheric circulation associated with extreme rainfall events in Piura, Perú, during the 1997–1998 and 2002 El Niño events. Ann Geophys 22:3917–3926

    Google Scholar 

  • Taulis E (1934) De la distribution des pluies au Chili. Materiaux pour l’ Etudes des Calamités, Part 1:3–20. Société de Geographie de Geneve, Geneva

  • Trenberth K, Stepaniak DP (2001) Indices of El Niño evolution. J Climate 14:1697–1701

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Velasco I, Frisch JM (1987) Mesoscale convective complexes in the Americas. J Geophys Res 92(D8):9591–9613

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vicuña-Mackenna B (1877) Ensayo histórico sobre el clima de Chile. Imprenta El Mercurio, Valparaiso

  • Villa MA (2000) Vida e Morte no Sertão: História das Secas no Nordeste nos séculos XIX e XX. Ed. Atica, Sao Paulo

    Google Scholar 

  • Vuille M, Bradley S, Keimig F (2000) Interannual climate variability in the central Andes and its relation to tropical Pacific and Atlantic forcing. J Geophys Res 105(D10):12447–12460

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walker GT, Bliss EW (1932) World weather V. Mem Roy Meteor Soc 4:53–84

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolf T (1892) Geografía y Geología del Ecuador, 1st edn. Colección Rescate, Universidad de Guayaquil, Guayaquil

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Patricio Aceituno.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Aceituno, P., Prieto, M.d., Solari, M.E. et al. The 1877–1878 El Niño episode: associated impacts in South America. Climatic Change 92, 389–416 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-008-9470-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-008-9470-5

Keywords

Navigation