CLIMATE CHANGE AND EL Niño
El Niño Theme Page - El Niño is a disruption of the ocean-atmosphere
system in the Tropical Pacific Ocean having important consequences for
weather and climate around the globe. NOAA has primary
responsibilities for providing forecasts to the Nation, and a leadership
role in sponsoring El Niño observations and research. This home page
addresses some of the following topics: What is La Niña? What is El
Niño?; The Impacts and Benefits of El Niño; 1997-1999 Information;
Forecasts; List of impacts and prediction benefits; and 3D Animation.
www.pmel.noaa.gov/toga-tao/el-nino/nino-home.html
What is La Niña? - La Niña is characterized by
unusually cold ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific, compared
to El Niño, which is characterized by unusually warm ocean
temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific.
www.pmel.noaa.gov/toga-tao/la-nina-story.html
Climate Prediction Center - The Climate Prediction Center
serves the public by assessing and forecasting the impacts of
short-term climate variability and emphasizing enhanced risks of
weather-related extreme events. Educational materials include information
on the ENSO cycle, and fact sheets and monographs.
www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/outreach/education.html
The National Climatic Data Center - This web site is a pathway to
connect with both national and global climate data sets used by the
government and the private sector. The Center has a statutory mission
to describe the climate of the United States and it acts as the Nation's
scorekeeper regarding the trends and anomalies of weather and climate.
NCDC’s climate data is used in a variety of applications including
agriculture, air quality, construction, education, energy, engineering,
forestry, health, insurance, landscape design, livestock management,
manufacturing, recreation and tourism, retailing, transportation, and
water resources management. The Center's web site lists a number of
educational links.
www.ncdc.noaa.gov/ol/climate/climateresourceseducational.html
Office of Global Programs Education and Outreach Products - NOAA has the
primary task within the Federal Government to routinely provide climate
forecasts and products to the nation and the Office of Global Programs
assists in this capacity by sponsoring focused scientific research.
This web site includes the “Reports to the Nation on Our Changing
Planet” publication series: The Climate System, Our Ozone Shield, El
Niño and Climate Prediction, Our Changing Climate.
www.ogp.noaa.gov/library/index.htm
Climate and Marine Fisheries - This web page examines how changes in the
earth's climate affect marine ecosystems and fisheries. Climate varies on
different time scales, and this variation impacts fisheries in different ways. The web
page includes summary information on climate as it relates to fisheries and
provides examples of the impact on fisheries from short-term changes (El Niño scale),
from intermediate to decadal scale changes, and from long-term climate variability. It
also provides examples of the potential impact of global change on marine
fisheries, links to research on climate and fisheries, and data sources for
analysis.
www.pfel.noaa.gov/research/climatemarine
The NOAA Ship KA'IMIMOANA is a research vessel specifically designed and
dedicated to maintaining the Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) array of
buoys. Throughout the year, the ship crosses the equator back and
forth; recovering, deploying, and repairing TAO moorings. Various
scientific projects are undertaken by the ship and a daily log is kept
and placed on the Internet when the ship is at sea.
pmel.noaa.gov/tao/kaimi
NOAA's Teacher at Sea on the Ron Brown Follow the
adventure of a NOAA Teacher
at Sea on her journey with the ACE-Asia Research Program.
The cruise worked during the months of March and April, 2001, but
the teacher's logs and photos help tell the story.
The Aerosol Characterization Experiments (ACE) were designed to increase
our understanding of how atmospheric aerosol particles affect the
Earth's radiation balance by scattering or absorbing light and by
acting as cloud forming nuclei. The teacher who made the cruise is
a middle school teacher from Pennsylvania who worked with her class while
she sailed the
Pacific.
www.ogp.noaa.gov/ace-asia/dailys/index.htm">
El Niño and La Niña: Tracing the Dance of Ocean and Atmosphere
- This article, from the National Academy of Sciences, is an
occasional article intended to explain the outcomes of basic science
research.
www4.nationalacademice.org/opus/elnino.html
OUR PLANET - THE ACRTIC AND ICE
The Arctic Theme Page - The education pages for this site include
many educational resources. For example, you can find information on
tracking the location of the North Magnetic Pole, what kind of research is
done by arctic submarines, the location of a virtual classroom,
how to understand latitude, and the page includes
a polar climate section for young children.
www/.arctic.noaa.gov/education.htm
The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) is an federal information
and referral center supporting polar and cryospheric research with
information on snow cover, avalanches, glaciers, ice sheets, freshwater
ice, sea ice, ground ice, permafrost, atmospheric ice, paleoglaciology,
and ice cores. Though the data products are targeted for the science
research community, education resources for teachers and students are
available.
www-nsidc.colorado.edu/NSIDC/EDUCATION/
OUR PLANET - GEOPHYSICS
A Paleoclimatological Perspective On Global Warming - Paleoclimatology
is the study of past climate. This web site features information about
global change, global warming and more from the National Geophysical
Data Center.
www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/education.html
Frequently Asked Questions about Global Warming - This site can answer
many questions about
global warming, including: What is the greenhouse effect, and is it
affecting our climate? Are greenhouse gases increasing? Is the climate
warming? Are El Niños related to Global Warming? Is the hydrological
cycle (evaporation and precipitation) changing? Is the
atmospheric/oceanic circulation changing? Is the climate becoming more
variable or extreme?
How important are these changes in a longer-term context? Is sea level
rising? Can the observed changes be explained by natural variability?
www.ncdc.noaa.gov/ol/climate/globalwarming.html
OUR PLANET - GLOBAL POSITIONING
Global Positioning System enters High School Curriculum - In a joint
program between the National Ocean Service's National Geodetic Survey (NGS)
and the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM), students at Springbrook
High School in Silver Spring, Maryland are learning about global positioning
systems (GPS) in a hands-on program for creating highly accurate maps of their
school grounds. GPS became a part of the school's curriculum in 1998 in a
program entitled "Information Technology in a Global Society". This program
gives students the opportunity to use computers, telecommunications, and other
emerging technologies to gather, analyze, and communicate information in the
context of an increasingly interdependent world.
www.nos.noaa.gov/education/outreach.html