1. El Nino:What’s It All About? El Nino: What’s It All About?

2. What is El Nino? warming of sea surface waters in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean. “warm phase”, occurs every 3-7 years the shift in temperatures dramatically affects global weather

3. Occurs during Christmas season... First noticed by Peruvian Fishermen “Christ Child” “The Boy” “The Little One”

4. Common Effects of El Nino? US southwest wetter US northwest mild winters Atlantic hurricanes milder and less frequent African droughts or floods European droughts and floods East asian floods Vietnam Has Been Hit by Flood and Drought in 2002. U.S. had worst fire year in last 50; this photo from Angeles National Forest

5. What is La Nina? cooling of sea surface waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean “cold phase”, occurs every 3-7 years La NiñaLa Niña “The Girl”“The Girl”

6. More El Nino Images Normal Autumn El Nino Spring El Nino

7. National El Nino Impact

11. Measuring El Nino Weather Station: Colorado

12. Measuring El Nino Buoys

13. Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) Array of ATLAS moored buoys The World’s Largest Scientific Instrument!

14. Measuring El Nino Satellites

15. Measuring El Nino Measuring El Nino Sea Surface Temperatures

16. Measuring El Nino: Measuring El Nino: Coral Bleaching

17. El Nino and California Increased chance of heavy winter rains Severe flooding and landslides (1934, La Canada floods kill more than 40 people; 1978 killer landslides in local mountains) Bigger surf from larger Pacific StormsBigger surf Increased summer droughts A rescuer helps a woman out of her Orange County house, 1998