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What weather phenomena has the largest impact on our weather in Texas?

What weather phenomena has the largest impact on our weather in Texas?. El Niño and La Niña. Definitions:. El Niño - Unusually warm surface water temperatures in the Pacific ocean caused by weak or reversed direction trade winds.

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What weather phenomena has the largest impact on our weather in Texas?

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  1. What weather phenomena has the largest impact on our weather in Texas?

  2. El Niño and La Niña

  3. Definitions: El Niño - Unusually warm surface water temperatures in the Pacific ocean caused by weak or reversed direction trade winds. La Niña - Unusually cold surface water temperatures in the Pacific ocean caused by strong easterly trade winds.

  4. Strange phenomenon occur during an El Niño and La Niña like...

  5. Brush fires caused by drought in Texas (La Niña)

  6. Increased number of Hurricanes (La Niña) Strong trade winds!

  7. Hurricane Floyd was HUGE! (1999 - La Niña)

  8. Causing devastating floods in Australia (2010-2011 La Niña) Australia has the opposite weather of Texas!!

  9. Fish populations decline off the coast of S. America (El Niño) Fish do not like warm water! (El Nino = bad fishing)

  10. More tornadoes through tornado alley? NO!!! Scientists have found no significant correlation between El Niño and La Niña weather patterns and increased tornadoes.

  11. Movement of Ocean Water • Surface currents • Deep ocean currents • Upwelling

  12. Surface Ocean Currents • Currents that are controlled by the wind. ~¼ mile depth, 10%

  13. Deep Ocean Currents • Currents controlled by water density: temperature and salinity 90% of the ocean water moves in deep ocean currents

  14. Upwelling • Upwelling brings up cold, nutrient rich water from the bottom of the ocean. Fish like cold water! More food (La Nina = good fishing)

  15. What causes the patterns? • WIND!! • Normal trade wind pattern. Normal trade wind speeds

  16. What causes an El Niño? Weak trade winds and weak upwelling cause warm water off the coast of S. America WARM! Trade winds very weak or blow in opposite direction.

  17. What causes a La Niña? Strong trade winds blow surface water towards east, creating colder surface temperatures off South American coast. COLD! STRONG trade wind speeds!

  18. Sea surface anomalies associated with El Niño

  19. SST differences between El Niño and La Niña

  20. QUIZ! Which is which…Normal, El Niño, La Niña? A B C

  21. Were your predictions correct?

  22. How can we predict an El Niño or La Niña event?

  23. Need measurements to make predictions

  24. NOAA drifting buoys Measures... • temperature • currents • winds

  25. Satellites Instruments on satellites measure wind, waves, temperature of the sea surface, ocean color, ocean surface currents, and tides.

  26. Where they monitor…

  27. REVIEW El Nino = The Boy = Warm = We like La Nina = The Girl = Cold = We don’t like

  28. Videos • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR5VPAqVQBw    El Nino explanation video  3min • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEAv-9TZktY   La Nina explanation video  3.5min • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWTucpsClLc  Austin newscast in January talking about Australia flooding  2min • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5x8dJ57xkk  Texas weatherman predictions for this year from July 2010.   about 3min • http://esminfo.prenhall.com/science/geoanimations/animations/26_NinoNina.html    All three animations 

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