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El Nino: Of Droughts and Flooding Rains by Dr Nevile Nicholls - Activities
Meanings
What do these words mean in this article? (A dictionary and thesaurus will help!)
- oscillation
- amplify
- benign
- the runs of water
- fluctuation
- redistribute
- imbalance
- long-range connection
- anomaly
Questions
1. What is the "El Nino" effect?
2. Why is it sometimes called the "Southern Oscillation"?
3. When was it first realised by Europeans that Australia sometimes has very dry periods?
4. Is El Nino sometimes deadly?
5. How was the El Nino effect discovered? Who realised it, and when?
6. What does the sun have to do with the climate?
7. What would the winds be like if the earth was not spinning?
8. Weather patterns generally shift across from the West. What does the earth's spinning have to do with this?
9. Sketch a map of the world similar to the one in the article. Mark on the map where the currents would be flowing that make the coast of South America cold.
10. El Nino is a type of vicious circle. What are the main ways that this vicious circle feeds itself?
Cloze Activity
Here are some extracts from the article. Complete the sentences by filling in the spaces.
Australia is a land "of droughts ______________ flooding rains" because of the El Nino - Southern ______________. About a decade ago I showed that this ______________ amplifies the climate variability ______________ it strikes, including Australia. Without El ______________ events and La Nina events, we would have a ______________ benign climate.
So what is the El Nino - Southern Oscillation? And ______________ was it discovered? And how does it ______________ Australia? And, perhaps most ______________, can we predict it?
There is a long way to go ______________ we understand enough of the interactions ______________ the El Nino - Southern Oscillation and human and natural climate change. But we ______________ safely assume that we will be still ______________ El Nino events in the future. So, we need to ______________ that farmers and others can take advantage of ______________ we do know already about this phenomenon. The predictions ______________ can make now using the El Nino - ______________ Oscillation can help farmers cope with dry ______________, and make full use of the good conditions ______________ they return at the end of an El Nino ______________.
Summary
This article has a number of sections. Each section has a main point. Work out the main point of these sections and write them here.
The Hungry Years
Sea Surface Temperatures and the Climate
Walker Circulation
How does El Nino - Southern Oscillation (ENSO) affect Australia?
How do we use ENSO to forecast Australian climate?
The 1997 El Nino
What will happen now?
How has our understanding of the impact of El Nino changed?
What about the greenhouse effect?
Debate
Think of all the arguments for and against these statements. (To help you, use this article and others that you can find.)
"El Nino is going to get worse."
"The Australian government should spend more on research into El Nino."
Research
Use this article, the Internet and libraries to find information on one of these topics:
a) Rural weather forecasts include all sorts of information, such as frosts and winds. What aspects of weather forecasts are most useful to different sorts of farmer?
b) "The Hungry Years" in Australia. When, what, and where were they, and how did people cope?
c) How the Coriolis Forces affect the earth's weather.
d) Compare the usual climate conditions of places at the same latitude, but on opposite sides of the Pacific Ocean.
e) Weather patterns on other planets (eg Venus, Mars). Include whether there are seasons, winds and rain.
f) Animal behaviours triggered by changes in the weather pattern.
g) How does the Weather Bureau's National Climate Centre help Australians in practical ways?
Instructions to Students
Use the library or the Internet to collect information about the topic. Find at least four different articles or chapters.
Write down about three ideas from each article you find.
You now have about a dozen ideas on this topic. Choose which idea is the most important, which is second-most important, and so on.
Write them in order, from most important to least important.
Write a paragraph to explain each idea.
Write down where you found the information you used. This is your "bibliography".
Be prepared to deliver your report on the date it is due!
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