2000 EARTH SCIENCE VIDEOTAPES |
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Tape Title | Record ID | Date Produced | TRT: |
Synopsis |
| ADIOS LA NINA: LATEST SATELLITE IMAGES SHOW END IS NEAR
| G00-046 | 05/09/00 | 00:18:02 | The ocean phenomenon known as La Nina has been blamed for last summer's severe drought and an increase in Atlantic hurricanes. Scientists at NASA are releasing new images showing that La Nina finally appears to be on the way out, bringing an end to one of the wildest roller-coaster rides for Pacific ocean temperatures in recent history. For the first time, scientists have been able to study an entire El Nino / La Nina cycle with an unprecedented array of satellites and ocean buoys. The images from these instruments provide insights into the complex relationship between the ocean, the winds, the atmosphere, and even ocean biology.
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TAPE CONTENTS: |
| ITEM (1): Adios La Nina - In 3D - This sequence combines data showing sea surface temperatures anomalies (SST) with sea surface heights anomalies (SSH) and wind intensity and direction anomalies (SSW). Warmer than normal waters are shown in red and cooler than normal waters are shown in blue. The sequence begins with the rise and fall of warm waters associated with El Nino in late 1997 and early 1998. The cooler waters of La Nina emerged in the spring of 1998, peaked during the winters of 1999 and 2000, and have diminished to where temperatures in the Pacific are only one or two degrees colder than normal at this time. Scientists say the weakening of the trade winds mean that La Nina will have a difficult time sustaining itself for much longer. SST data comes from NASA's TRMM satellite. SSH data comes from NASA's TOPEX/Poseidon and SSW data is from DOD's DMSP satellite series.
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| ITEM (2): Adios La Nina - Sea Surface Temperatures (SST) - This sequence shows sea surface temperatures anomalies in the equatorial Pacific. Warmer than normal temperatures are shown in red. Cooler than normal temperatures are shown in blue. The cool waters associated with La Nina have virtually disappeared and are only one to two degrees cooler than normal in the central Pacific and actually four degrees above normal in the eastern Pacific. If current trends continue, water temperatures will return to near normal in the Pacific or perhaps move to a slight warm phase in the coming months. Ocean temperatures can influence atmospheric patterns on a global scale. SST data comes from NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite.
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| ITEM (3): Adios La Nina - Sea Surface Height (SSH) - This sequence shows sea surface height anomalies in the equatorial Pacific. Higher than normal sea levels are shown in red, lower than normal sea levels are shown in green. Sea height is also an indicator of ocean temperature and is a measure of how much heat is stored in the ocean. SSH data comes from NASA's TOPEX/Poseidon satellite.
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| ITEM (4): Adios La Nina - Temperatures And Sea Height - This sequence combines sea surface temperature anomalies with sea surface height. Warmer than normal temperatures are shown in red, cooler than normal temperatures are shown in blue. Sea height is shown in 3-D. Note the correlation between sea height and sea temperatures.
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| ITEM (5): La Nina Runs Deep - By combining data from satellites and ocean buoys, scientists can better understand what is happening beneath the surface of the ocean. Subsurface temperature anomalies can give scientists an idea of what's ahead. Notice the finger of cold water propagating from west to east during the spring of 1998 that finally put an end to El Nino. Scientists say there is very little subsurface support now for La Nina. Subsurface temperature data comes from NOAA's TOGA TAO buoy array. SST data come from NASA's TRMM satellite. SSH data comes from NASA's TOPEX/Poseidon satellite.
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| ITEM (6): Amazing Changing Ocean -This data sequence illustrates just how much the ocean can change in a few months under the powerful influence El Nino and La Nina. From the peak of El Nino in the winter of 1998 to the peak of La Nina the winter of 2000, ocean temperatures along the equator dropped 16 degrees (f) and sea surface heights dropped more than 16 inches. Thermal expansion properties of water account for the majority of the changes in sea height. SST data come from NASA's TRMM satellite. SSH data comes from NASA's TOPEX/Poseidon satellite.
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| ITEM (7): Winds Of Death - It is the strong east to west winds that sustain La Nina. The winds cause cool waters to rise to the surface from the ocean depths. When the winds diminish, the supply of cool water is cut off and the ocean begins to warm.
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| ITEM (8): The Hurricane Connection - Animation compares the effects of La Nina and El Nino on the formation of Atlantic Hurricanes. El Nino tends to suppress the formation of hurricanes by steering the subtropical jet stream into the hurricanes' path and shearing off the tops of the storms before they develop into full intensity. During La Nina, the jet stream moves north, and hurricanes tend to more easily evolve without interference.
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| ITEM (9): Moving The Jet Streams - Animation illustrates how El Nino and La Nina drive global climate changes. As warm water in the tropical pacific shifts its location one-third of the way around the globe, this major heat source to the atmosphere changes the position of atmospheric high and low pressure centers. This causes changes in the position of the jet streams hitting North America and associated temperature and rainfall patterns. The jet stream location is critical for steering storms into the continental U.S. During El Nino, the subtropical jet is displaced southward and storms are steered by the subtropical jet into southern California. During La Nina, the subtropical and polar jet streams combine to steer storms toward the northwest United States.
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| ITEM (10): An Immense Pacific Bloom - This sequence illustrates the vast size and intensity of the ocean's biological rebound from El Nino. Satellite imagery from NASA's Sea-viewing Wide-Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) instrument showed nearly a complete lack of plankton along the equatorial Pacific during El Nino. The cool waters associated with La Nina brought nutrients from the below the surface and enabled an enormous plankton bloom (shown in green).
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| ITEM (11): Rebound From El Nino - The SeaWiFS data revealed surprisingly low levels of chlorophyll coinciding with El Nino's strongest phase. The cooler waters associated with La Nina brought a huge plankton bloom along the equator (shown in green). By understanding the magnitude of the huge plankton bloom, scientists can calculate how changes in biologic activity affect the CO-2 levels. For the first time, scientists were able to calculate that El Nino cut the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by 700 million metric tons.
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| ITEM (12): Explosion In The Galapagos - SeaWiFS documented the rapid demise of El Nino in the waters around the Galapagos Islands. The images show a explosion in plankton growth as the warm El Nino waters blamed for choking off essential ocean nutrients are replaced by deep cold upwelled waters. The false color images, which document plankton concentrations a period from May 9 - 24 1998, show that life in the region to the west archipelago has returned in remarkable abundance. High concentrations are shown red. Areas occluded by clouds are shown in white.
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| ITEM (13): Satellite Animation -Animation of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and TOPEX/Poseidon satellites.
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| ITEM (14): Earth Scientists B-Roll - B-roll of research oceanographers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.wer atmospheric features hidden beneath.
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| ITEM (15): Interview Excerpt - Dr. David Adamec, Research Oceanographer, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center |