El Niño's Powerful Reach.

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El Niño’s Powerful Reach

Background:
The primary signature of an El Niño is the warming of sea surface
temperature in the Pacific Ocean near the west coast of South America.
Scientists at NASA, NOAA, the Smithsonian, and at other scientific
organizations around the globe monitor the sea surface temperature to
better predict El Niño events. They obtain data both from buoys in the
Pacific Ocean and from satellites orbiting our planet overhead. They
compile this data to create sea-surface temperature charts that give
them visual predictors of El Niño.

1. Locate and write down definitions of El Niño on the internet at
the NASA (http://www.nasa.gov) and NOAA (http://www.noaa.
gov).
2. Go to the El Niño exhibit computer interactive and explore
the “What is El Niño” section (http://forces.si.edu/elnino/01_
00.html). Watch the video animation of changing sea surface
temperature. Write down your visual observations of what
changed in the animation.
3. Examine the two figures sea-surface temperature charts below.
Compare the two charts. Which one do you think shows
an El Niño event? What differences and similarities to you see
in the two charts?Visit:
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