El Nino Study Guide

Use Geofactsheet 61, Geofile 569, and the pages in Waugh to complete the following tasks.  In each answer, make sure you include relevant facts and figures.

What is El Nino?

1.    At what time of year does El Nino usually occur?

2.    Why is the event called “El Nino”?

3.    Which ocean does the El Nino event occur in?

4.    How often does El Nino occur?

5.    State 3 time periods during which an El Nino event has happened.

6.    What has happened to the frequency and magnitude of El Nino events?

7.    How long do El Nino events usually last for?

8.    What happens to sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific ocean during an El Nino event?

9.    What are the conditions in the ocean during a normal (non-El Nino) year?

The Impacts of El Nino

You will need to focus on the two main areas of the world where the impacts of El Nino are the greatest; Latin America and Australia & Indonesia.  An overview of other global impacts would be useful too.

1.    Divide an A4 sheet into four columns.  Give the columns the headings:

-         Demographic Impacts (deaths)

-         Social Impacts (HESH)

-         Economic Impacts (£ $ €)

-         Environmental Impacts (land, water, wildlife)

2.    Do this three times, so that you have a sheet each for:

-          Latin America

-          Australia and Indonesia

-          Other global impacts

3.    Use the resources to fill in the columns with impacts from the 1982/83 and the 1997/98 El Nino events.  Try to get at least 3 impacts under each heading.