1. Explain air pressure’s role in wind formation.
Bell Ringer

2. & The El Nino Southern Oscillation El Nino and La Nina
Global Winds
& The El Nino Southern Oscillation
El Nino and La Nina

3. El Nino Southern Oscillation ENSO
Occurs: three to seven years
The warm countercurrents in the Pacific become unusually strong and replace normally cold offshore waters with warm equatorial waters.
Characterized by unusually warm ocean surface temperatures

4. Brainstorm what negative effects you think would be likely to accompany the rise in temperature, including natural disasters.
Think about the impacts on weather…
Droughts, floods, mudslides, hurricanes, typhoons…
Think about it…
El Nino Video

5. El Nino verses La Nina La Niña
When surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific are colder than average
Increase in hurricane activity
The southern US is usually warmer and dryer in climate
El Niño
Periodic warming of the ocean that occurs in the central and eastern Pacific.
Rainy seasons in the southern US
Winter temperatures west of the Rocky Mountains are above normal

6. Cause and Effect El Nino
Cause: Develop when easternly winds weaken. Warm surface air creates more thunderstorms over the central and eastern pacific
Effect: Subtropical jet stream is energized, storms lead to frequent mudslides in SO. CAL. And a wet winter in the Southern US
Cause and Effect

7. Cause and Effect La Nina
Cause: Stronger than normal trade winds push warm water farther west
Effect: Polar jet stream is amplified, brings cold air to northwest. Subtropical jet stream moves northward bringing moisture, heavy rains, and mountain snows to the Pacific Northwest.
El Nino and La Nina Visualization
Cause and Effect

8. Briefly explain El Niño and La Niña.
Exit Ticket