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Speaking of El Nino projects, I’m still working on grading all of them; please be patient. I should have all the grades done by Monday. I look through them all first to get an idea of how well you did. Then I grade each one, after which I go back and take a final look before putting grades in Progress Book. Below is an outline of what I’m looking for.

Ocean circulation and how it changes during El Nino. 

• Factors that influence currents: winds, land masses, Coriolis effect
• Normal non-El Nino Pacific currents: strong easterly trade winds, easterly equatorial currents, mounding of warm surface waters in the western Pacific, cold deep water upwelling along South America
• El Nino changes: weak or reversed trade winds, equatorial currents reverse (flow down hill) towards east, central and eastern Pacific warm, western Pacific cools, upwelling ceases.

Relationship between ocean and atmospheric circulation during El Nino:

• Changes in pacific equatorial currents and warming of central and western Pacific affects atmosphereic (Walker Cell) circulation. Normal Walker Cell circulation collapses or reverses, trade winds become weak or blow from the west and warm moist air raises over the central and eastern Pacific causing rains in normally dry areas, low pressure moves east, high pressure takes over west.
• Jet streams move south across US increasing precipitation in the south and making northern US warmer
• Changes in these circulations affect the weather around the globe

Weather impacts in Central Florida:

• Changes to jet stream results in fewer hurricanes due to increase wind shear aloft, hurricanes that do form tend to be pushed more towards the north Atlantic.
• Temperatures do not vary significantly, some slight cooling in winter months of about 2-3°
• Increased cloud cover and rainfall, an additional 10 inches (30%). This may have some negative impacts on crops and tourism, however it helps to recharge the aquifers and reduce the number of brush fires
• Increased likelihood of tornadoes

Relationship between ocean circulation, the aquatic food chain and El Nino:

• During non El nino years upwelling occurs along the west coast of south America. This upwelling brings nutrient rich cold bottom waters to the surface where it helps feed small organisms called phytoplankton. Phytoplankton are producers and form the bottom rung of the ocean food chain.
• During El Nino years the upwelling stops which results in significantly less phytoplankton. The reduced levels of phytoplankton means each level higher up on the food chain will have insufficient food.

How El Nino changes might affect the food chain/production in Florida:

• While El Nino has a significant negative affect on the fishing industry along the west coast of South America, it does not have a significant impact on fishing in Florida. El Nino is an event in the Pacific ocean not the Atlantic. However it may affect imports of certain fish and fish products raising prices due to decreased catch
• El Nino does affect our winter crops in Florida with increased rainfall and reduced sun. Increased rain might delay planting or increase diseases. Different varieties may need to be planted or different planting techniques used. Increased rain may be beneficial to some crops. El Nino even affects cattle raised in Florida, as pasture area is less productive and excessive rain can lead to hoof problems.

Your first Chapter Challenge is this:

Leaders in your community want to know if an El Nino event could affect the weather and economy of your community. They have asked your help. The state will host a conference to discuss how to minimize the impact of El Nino, but only if your research reveals it can actually affect your community.

You are to prepare a report in which you will explain:

1. Ocean surface circulation and how it changes during El Nino
2. The relationship of ocean and atmospheric circulation patterns during an El Nino
   

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3. Changes in weather or climate that might occur in our community (central Florida)
4. The relationship between ocean circulation patterns and the food chain and how El Nino affects these.
   

   Click to see a larger image

5. How El Nino related changes in the food chain might affect Florida.

The project can take many forms (video, PowerPoint presentation, podcast or typed report).

Little time will be devoted to producing your report in class, so consider this a home project. Each of the activities we will be doing in class is designed to provide the information you need to complete this project. However feel free to conduct additional study into this topic and include that information in your report.

Each time you complete one of the activities, there is a “Reflecting on the Activity and the Challenge” and “Preparing for the Chapter Challenge” section in your EarthComm textbook, both of which are designed to help you complete your project.

The due date will be October 28th. That gives you a little more than 3 weeks.

The project will be evaluated on how thoroughly and accurately you address each of the items listed above. A one or two sentence answer for each would not be considered complete. Illustrations, charts, data tables or graphs should be included. These help to provide scientific data supporting your statements. Remember to include a list of sources. The report will also be graded on how interesting and creative it is. Put your artistic and scientific sides to work.

Here’s an excerpt from Discovery News about today’s quake.

Sept. 29, 2009 — A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of up to 8.3 struck off the South Pacific island nation of Samoa on Tuesday, triggering a tsunami as coastal residents fled to higher ground.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said waves 1.57 meters (five feet) tall hit American Samoa, while 0.7 meter waves were recorded in Samoa.

The center had earlier issued a tsunami warning for a large swathe of the South Pacific including Fiji, New Zealand and Tonga after the U.S. Geological Survey reported a 7.9 magnitude quake.

The center later said an 8.3 magnitude quake had been recorded at a depth of 33 kilometers (21 miles). It was not immediately clear if this was the same quake and the USGS’s website did not provide exact details of its location.

“Sea level readings indicate a tsunami was generated,” said a statement from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

WATCH VIDEO: Learn more about the Pacific Coast’s tsunami warning system.

Related Content:

• Planet ‘Restlessness’ May Predict Big Quakes
• Triple Junction of Crusts Caused 2007 Quake
• HowStuffWorks.com: Earthquakes
• More Discovery News

About an hour later we were standing on the beach in New Smyrna. Waves were running 5-8 feet and breaking far from the waters edge. A few people played near shore where one minute you were in ankle deep water and the next almost to your waist. The pull of the water as it ran back out to sea was amazing!

Unfortunately later that day the power of the waves took the life of a body surfer in New Smyrna and today waves from the same storm may have claimed more lives in Maine.

One came from the ocean.

Image Credit: Austin Tomlin, Creative Commons

It’s true! Roughly half of the oxygen we breathe is produced by phytoplankton, tiny single-celled plants that live in the sea. That fact alone means that you – and all life on Earth – depend on the ocean for survival every minute of every day. In fact, no matter how far we may live from the coast, the ocean is important to our daily lives in countless ways. The ocean stabilizes our climate and weather patterns and is vital to the global cycle that supplies us with clean drinking water. It provides seafood to millions of people, and studying the wild diversity of life beneath the waves has helped us produce medicines and other important products. For those who live near the water, the ocean offers direct opportunities for employment, transportation, and recreation.

Click here to celebrate Ocean and Water with Year of Science!

I decided to do a quick recap of our discussions about El Nino (actually this includes today and tomorrow). This might help with your notes.

Ocean circulation and how it changes during El Nino. 

• Factors that influence currents: winds, land masses, Coriolis effect
• Normal non-El Nino Pacific currents: strong easterly trade winds, easterly equatorial currents, mounding of warm surface waters in the western Pacific, cold deep water upwelling along South America
• El Nino changes: weak or reversed trade winds, equatorial currents reverse (flow down hill) towards east, central and eastern Pacific warm, western Pacific cools, upwelling ceases.

Relationship between ocean and atmospheric circulation during El Nino:

• Changes in pacific equatorial currents and warming of central and western Pacific affects Walker Cell circulation. Normal Walker Cell circulation collapses and warm moist air raises over the central and eastern Pacific, low pressure moves east.
• Jet streams move south across US
• Changes in these circulations affect the weather around the globe

Weather impacts in Central Florida:

• Changes to jet stream results in fewer hurricanes due to increase wind shear aloft, hurricanes that do form tend to be pushed more towards the north Atlantic.
• Temperatures do not vary significantly, some slight cooling in winter months of about 2-3°
• Increased cloud cover and rainfall, an additional 10 inches (30%). This may have some negative impacts on crops and tourism, however it helps to recharge the aquifers and reduce the number of brush fires
• Increased likelihood of tornadoes

Relationship between ocean circulation, the aquatic food chain and El Nino:

• During non El nino years upwelling occurs along the west coast of south America. This upwelling bring nutrient rich cold bottom waters to the surface where it helps feed small organisms called phytoplankton. Phytoplankton are producers and form the bottom rung of the ocean food chain.
• During El Nino years the upwelling stops which results in significantly less phytoplankton. The reduced levels of phytoplankton means each level higher up on the food chain will have insufficient food.

How El Nino changes might affect the food chain/production in Florida:

• While El Nino has a significant negative affect on the fishing industry along the west coast of South America, it does not have a significant impact on fishing in Florida. El Nino is an event in the Pacific ocean not the Atlantic. However it may affect imports of certain fish and fish products raising prices due to decreased catch
• El Nino does affect our winter crops in Florida with increased rainfall and reduced sun. Increased rain might delay planting or increase diseases. Different varieties may need to be planted or different planting techniques used. El Nino even affects cattle raised in Florida, as pasture area is less productive.

Then we combined ideas from all the classes, asked a few questions of each other to clarify thinking and selected what we (students) thought were the top 5 most significant factors causing water to move through the oceans. Here’s the list (6 listed because of variations between classes):

• Wind
• Temperature
• Earth’s rotation
• Moon’s gravity
• Plate tectonics
• Water Cycle

This is a great list! It shows your ability to apply prior knowledge to new situations, think logically, evaluate various options and engage in debate. I am proud of how well you did.

Lastly you had to do some textbook research into these and present your findings to the class. This had mixed results some very good and others not so good. Textbook research doesn’t seem to be a mastered skill yet, but we’ll work on it. If you were perfect at everything what would you need me for?

Now let’s have some more fun — “scientific messing around”. Let’s play with water!

Here’s some quick pics from your latest inquiry ‘What Affects the Rate of Evaporation”.

The famous water cycle drawing (click to enlarge)

While some of you are working on your creative version of the water cycle song (dance?), which we’ll post here, we are moving on and looking more closely at the mechanisms of the water cycle.

The basics of the water cycle, those marked in red, should be familiar to most students. But how well do you really know the water cycle? Take a closer look, what’s happening? I wonder…..

Over the next several days we’ll conduct an investigation into what affects the rate of evaporation and perhaps try to answer another student’s question “Is rain clean?” If the water is polluted on the ground does the pollution go with the water when it evaporates? How do we get acid rain?

Are you still wondering about the water cycle? Have you begun your own investigation? Here is a great resource on the Water Cycle.

Learn the song, choreograph your moves and we can record your version in class.