Internet Problem 8: El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
A) Start at the NOAA or NASA, El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) page and answer the
following questions:
https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/enso/what-el- ni%C3%B1o%E2%80%93southern-oscillation-enso-nutshell
NASA ENSO
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/ElNino
1) What is the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO)?
2) What are the three phases of ENSO?
B) Watch “Developing the El Niño Observations System”.
3) How are sea surface temperature measures used to predict ENSO phases (i.e. describe the TIO/TRITON Array)?
C) Go to NOAA Climate.gov https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-variability-oceanic-
ni%C3%B1o-index
4) What is the Oceanic Niño Index (ONI)?
5) How is the ONI calculated?
D) Watch one of the animations below explaining the relationship between variations is central Pacific sea surface temperatures and associated atmospheric conditions resulting in weather variations. This is also explained in the text of previous links.
6) What is a “typical” time period/range between the El Niño and La Niña phase? 7) Describe the ENSO impact on climate and weather in North America (all three
phases.)
8) Describe the ENSO impact on climate and weather in the western Pacific (all three phases.)
E) Go to the NOAA Climate Prediction Center (NCP). (The NCP ENSO predictions are updated monthly, on the 2nd Thursday of the month.)
https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_mo…
or
https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/lanina/enso_evolution- status-fcsts-web.pdf
9) What phase of the ENSO are we in today?
10) What is the ENSO prediction for the rest of the year?
11) What are the implications for California weather based on the current phase of ENSO?
Additional Interesting Links (not required):
Check-out the ENSO animations should the sea surface temperature variations in the eastern Pacific Ocean during the strong El Niño /La Nina cycle which occurred between 1997 and 2000.
ENSO Road Trip May 2020 https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/enso/may- 2020-enso-update-road-trip
https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/precip/CWli… %20materia
gov/facts/ninonina.html”>https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ninonina.html
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