GLOBE News
What is El Niño’s Impact in South America? Read the latest GLOBE ENSO Student Research Campaign Blog
What is El Niño’s impact in South America? Read the latest GLOBE ENSO Student Research Campaign blog by Dorian Wood Janney discussing some of the impacts of the 2015-2016 impacts on parts of Brazil and Columbia.
El Niño and La Niña are the warm and cool phases of a recurring climate pattern across the tropical Pacific—the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, or “ENSO” for short. The pattern can shift back and forth irregularly every two to seven years, and each phase triggers predictable disruptions of temperature, precipitation, and winds. These changes disrupt the large-scale air movements in the tropics, triggering a cascade of global side effects.
Considering the importance of this issue, the GLOBE ENSO campaign is designed to engage students in determining where and how much El Niño affects local places and to put students in contact with their local environment. During the current phase of this campaign (Phase II), students will use at least two of the GLOBE protocols of precipitation, air temperature, surface temperature, soil temperature, SMAP soil moisture and biometry - canopy and ground cover to observe changes from climate averages and correlate temperature and precipitation measurements with observations of phenology changes. Local analyses will be compared across the participating schools and examined in the broader spatial context afforded by satellite observations.
If you haven’t already joined the campaign, you can begin today. In order to officially participate, you must:
- take measurements and submit data, to GLOBE, in at least two of the six campaign protocols for at least 21 days per season; AND
- register as a member of the ENSO Student Research Campaign.
Register as a member today! (Be sure to log in to your GLOBE account to ensure you see the "join-community" link when you go to the Members Page.) The NASA GLOBE team will award certificates to the members and schools that attend at least 50 percent of the ENSO Student Research Campaign webinars during the 2016-2017 school year.
Throughout the campaign, regular guest blogs from scientists and teachers. In addition, there is information on the science of ENSO, how to participate in the campaign, analysis tools, numerous resources, and engaging discussion opportunities on the webpage. Keep checking back to discover what’s new with Phase II of the campaign!
type: globe-newsNews origin: GLOBE Implementation Office