Lifehacks 

How do we measure El Nino?

Joe Ford

How do we measure El Nino?

There are three main ways to measure an El Niño event:

  1. By measuring trade winds.
  2. By measuring pressure and calculating the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI).
  3. By measuring sea surface temperature using the TAO array and calculating an index.

What are three instruments you will use to predict El Nino?

There are several means used for El Niño detection; satellites, moored ATLAS and PROTEUS buoys, drifting buoys, sea level analysis, and XBT’s. Since El Niño influences global weather patterns and affects human lives and ecosystems, prediction of an El Niño event is becoming increasingly important.

How is Nino 3.4 calculated?

Now calculate the Nino 3.4 index by subtracting the monthly climatology from the original SST data and take the mean over the spatial coordinates (the monthly anomaly of SST over the Nino3. 4 region). To recreate the Nino 3.4 plot from Trenberth requires using the matplotlib function fill_between directly.

What is the Nino 3.4 index?

The Niño 3.4 index typically uses a 5-month running mean, and El Niño or La Niña events are defined when the Niño 3.4 SSTs exceed +/- 0.4C for a period of six months or more.

Why is it called El Nino?

Fishermen off the west coast of South America were the first to notice appearances of unusually warm water that occurred at year’s end. The phenomenon became known as El Niño because of its tendency to occur around Christmas time. El Niño is Spanish for “the boy child” and is named after the baby Jesus.

Does El Nino mean more rain?

El Niño occurs when warm water builds up along the equator in the eastern Pacific. The warm ocean surface warms the atmosphere, which allows moisture-rich air to rise and develop into rainstorms. During El Niño years, such as 1997, the southeast receives more rain than average.

Is El Nino warm or cold?

El Niño (the warm phase) and La Niña (the cool phase) lead to significant differences from the average ocean temperatures, winds, surface pressure, and rainfall across parts of the tropical Pacific.

How are SST anomalies calculated?

To calculate the difference-from-average temperatures shown here, a computer program takes the monthly average temperature at each grid point, and subtracts the long-term average for that month. If the result is a positive number, the sea surface was warmer than the long-term average.

What are SST anomalies?

An anomaly is a departure from average conditions. These maps compare temperatures in a given month to the long-term average temperature of that month from 1985 through 1997. Some sea surface temperature anomalies are simply transient events, not part of a specific pattern or trend. Other anomalies are more meaningful.

What is the difference between SST and SST anomaly maps?

Sea surface temperature refers to the temperature of the top millimeter of the ocean. An anomaly is a departure from average conditions. These maps compare temperatures in a given month to the long-term average temperature of that month from 1985 through 1997.

Articles 

How do we measure El Nino?

Joe Ford

How do we measure El Niño?

There are three main ways to measure an El Niño event:

  1. By measuring trade winds.
  2. By measuring pressure and calculating the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI).
  3. By measuring sea surface temperature using the TAO array and calculating an index.

How can scientists predict when El Niño will occur?

Scientists normally measure El Niño’s upcoming forecast through anomalies in sea surface temperatures. Extreme weather events related to El Niño have been occurring for centuries. However, recent research suggests that these events have gotten worse over time since the 1970s due to climate change.

What is used to collect data to predict an El Niño?

There are several means used for El Niño detection; satellites, moored ATLAS and PROTEUS buoys, drifting buoys, sea level analysis, and XBT’s. Since El Niño influences global weather patterns and affects human lives and ecosystems, prediction of an El Niño event is becoming increasingly important.

How did NOAA gather data about El Niño what type of data was gathered?

NOAA scientists say this event is among the strongest El Niños on record, comparable to the last major event in 1997-98. NOAA researchers anticipate that the data gathered by weather balloons and instruments dropped from aircraft will help improve the models that are used to support weather forecasts.

Why is it important for scientists to study El Niño?

El Niño is one example of how observing the ocean from space leads to significant insights. Researchers use data from NASA Earth observing satellites to create telling images of how El Niño events form in the ocean, and the factors that may impact its strength and duration in a given climate cycle.

What does El Niño involve?

An El Niño condition occurs when surface water in the equatorial Pacific becomes warmer than average and east winds blow weaker than normal. The opposite condition is called La Niña. During this phase of ENSO, the water is cooler than normal and the east winds are stronger. El Niños typically occur every 3 to 5 years.

Why do you think it is important for climate scientists to study El Niño?

How do scientists predict El Nino and La Nina?

Yes, scientists can often predict the onset of El Niño and La Niña several months to a year in advance, thanks to modern climate models (such as those used by NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Prediction) and observation data from the Tropical Pacific Observing System (which includes sensors on satellites.

What tools do modern scientists use to monitor El Niño?

How do scientists collect data on El Niño and La Niña events?

Scientists collect data about El Niño and La Niña using a number of technologies. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), for instance, operates a network of buoys which measure sea-surface temperature, air temperature, currents, winds, and humidity.

Which of the following is associated with El Niño phenomenon?

El Niño causes the Pacific jet stream to move south and spread further east. During winter, this leads to wetter conditions than usual in the Southern U.S. and warmer and drier conditions in the North. El Niño also has a strong effect on marine life off the Pacific coast.

What is El Niño science?

El Niño is a climate pattern that describes the unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. El Nino is the “warm phase” of a larger phenomenon called the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). El Niño was recognized by fishers off the coast of Peru as the appearance of unusually warm water.

How are scientists able to predict El Nino?

Using data from the buoys, along with visual imagery they receive from satellite imagery, scientists are able to more accurately predict El Niño and visualize its development and impact around the globe. El Niño events happen as warm trade winds heat up the surface waters of the tropical Pacific Ocean.

How are infrared waves used to study the Earth?

Earth scientists study infrared as the thermal emission (or heat) from our planet. As incident solar radiation hits Earth, some of this energy is absorbed by the atmosphere and the surface, thereby warming the planet. This heat is emitted from Earth in the form of infrared radiation.

How are El Nino and ENSO related to each other?

When coastal waters become warmer in the eastern tropical Pacific (El Niño), the atmospheric pressure above the ocean decreases. Climatologists define these linked phenomena as El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Today, most scientists use the terms El Niño and ENSO interchangeably.

Which is the best part of the infrared spectrum to study?

This region of the spectrum is divided into near-, mid-, and far-infrared. The region from 8 to 15 microns (µm) is referred to by Earth scientists as thermal infrared since these wavelengths are best for studying the longwave thermal energy radiating from our planet.