El Nino WebQuest - Loudoun County Public Schools



Name: ______________________________________ Date: ________________________ Block: ________

El Nino & La Nina Webquest

Following links and READ!!! about the weather phenomenon known as El Niño/La Nina and answer the following questions:



1. List two examples of what El Niño can do to the weather of the world. (pg1)

2. What is the Thermocline? How does a deep thermocline affect sea level? (pg2)

3. Scroll down to “El Nino Condititions.” How does ocean temperature and sea level differ compared to normal? (pg2)

4. Looking at the image, estimate the latitude where high level warm El Niño water is located. (pg3)

5. During which months do ocean surface elevations begin to rise along the equator, indicating the beginning of an El Niño? (pg4)

6. During which months does the El Niño end and the La Niña begin? (pg4)

7. Look at the images and animations, and describe how they illustrate a part of the El Niño-La cycle. (pg7)

8. How does the North Pacific jet stream change from the mean during the January-March 1998 phase of the El Niño? (pg8)

9. Compare temperature and precipitation patterns around equatorial southeast Asia during El Niño and La Niña. (pg9)

10. How does the weather in the northwestern part of the United States differ between El Niño and La Niña? (pg10)

pare temperature and precipitation patterns around the Southern United States during el Niño and la Niña. (pg10)

12. How have temperature and precipitation departed from the average for our area of Virginia during El Niño conditions? (pg11)

Upwelling

(Gh)/guides/mtr/eln/upw.rxml

13. What is upwelling?

14. The effectiveness of upwelling and its ability to support sea life is greatly dependent upon what?

15. What is a thermocline? What happens to temperatures in this layer?

16. Why does a deeper thermocline (seen in El Nino years) affect fish?

Develop Normal Conditions



17. What direction do the trade winds normally blow in the southern Pacific?

18. What is the humidity like in the western Pacific?

19. What are the sea surface temperature like in the eastern Pacific?

20. What are the sea surface temperatures like in the western Pacific?

21. What is the humidity like in the eastern Pacific?

21. What happened to the thermocline in the eastern Pacific during “normal” conditions?

22. How does this affect fisheries in the eastern Pacific?

Develop El Nino Conditions

23. What happens to the trade winds during El Nino conditions?

24. How does this change in the trade winds affect sea surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific?

25. Is there an upwelling during El Nino years?

26. During an El Nino year, describe how the weather conditions in the western Pacific are different from a “normal” year.

27. How does El Nino affect fisheries production and weather in the eastern Pacific?

Current Effects of El Nino



28. Occurring every _____________________ years, El Niño's most significant effects on North America occur during the ___________________.

29. How will El Nino affect the weather in California?

30. What kind of “storminess” will the Northeastern states see & what is the “wild card” meteorologist face?

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