Chasing El Nino: Movie Viewing Guide Answer Key
1. How often does El Nino occur each decade?
ONCE OR TWICE (min 1)
2. Which ocean controls most of the planet's climate during normal periods as well as
during El Nino?
PACIFIC (min 1, 3)
3. What do the trade winds NORMALLY do? What happens to the pattern of the trade
winds every 3 to 7 years?
TRADE WINDS BLOW EAST TO WEST, PILE UP WARM SURFACE AREA IN THE
WESTERN PACIFIC. EVERY 3-7 YEARS, THE TRADE WINDS REVERSE
DIRECTION, AND THE WARM WATER SLOSHES BACK TOWARDS SOUTH
AMERICA. (mins 3-4)
4. Do scientists know what causes El Nino?
NO (min 5)
5. Specifically, what were the research buoys supposed to measure?
CRITICAL ENVIRONMENTAL PARAMETERS - SURFACE WINDS, SURFACE
TEMPS, UPPER OCEAN TEMPS, OCEAN CURRENTS (min 6)
6. Who was likely responsible for the missing buoy?
FISHERMEN WHO “BORROW” THE BUOY AS A LURE (mins 12-13)
7. Satellites give us a global picture, but how are they limited?
VOLCANIC ERUPTION OBSCURED IMAGES FROM SATELLITES, FALSELY
LOWERING ESTIMATES OF SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURES BY SEVERAL
DEGREES (mins 16-17);
8. What do high water temperatures and the change of wind direction indicate?
EL NINO! (min 20)
9. During an El Nino, warm water travels toward South America. This heated water
contains as much energy as HALF A MILLION twenty-megaton hydrogen bombs. (min
22)
10.When El Nino occurs, what kind of weather event is often seen in Africa, Indonesia,
and Australia?
DROUGHTS (min 23)
11.Jet streams cause fierce storms in California, which cause increased EROSION on
the California coastline. (min 28)
12. Tropical heat & moisture cause enormous amounts of PRECIPITATION (min 31).
13.A BLOCKING FRONT is a wall of air which forces precipitation out of the clouds
before it hits the coast. (min 32)
14.El Nino can be considered positive because it reduces the number of Atlantic
HURRICANES (min 34). It also causes Northern U.S. winters to be WARMER (min 34)
than usual.
15.In 1997-98, the El Nino that hit PERU (min 35) caused hundreds to die, thousands
to be homeless, and destroyed this country’s FISHING (min 36) industry.
16.There is archaeological evidence that El Nino dates back to the 6th (min 38)
century.
17.How can trees be used to record the history of El Nino?
EXTRACT THE CORE, THE CHRONOLOGY WILL SHOW YEARS OF HIGHER AND
LOWER GROWTH. HIGH GROWTH = HIGH PRECIPITATION = EL NINO IN TREE
RINGS! (min 42)
18.Species on the Galapagos Islands show adaptation, proving that El Nino is a strong
influence in their EVOLUTION (min 45).
19.On the Galapagos Islands, what physical feature of the birds changed due to El
Nino?
BEAKS! BIG BEAKS → SMALL BEAKS (mins 46-47).
20.El Nino appears to be a natural part of the earth’s climate cycle. What problem do
humans contribute to that may accelerate the El Nino frequency?
GLOBAL WARMING - HUMAN-CAUSED WARMING OF THE ATMOSPHERE (min
50)