The 1997-98 El Nino is the strongest
on record. And its impacts were felt all over the world.
Extreme weather patterns drought wildfires
floods all can be linked to a pool of warm water
moving across the Pacific. Scientists predict this
year's El Nino could be the strongest yet. But what's different today
is NASA has an entirely new fleet of satellites and instruments orbiting
above Earth. With advanced sensors and cameras, that will allow us to see
this year's El Nino like never before. El Ninos have happened
for more than two centuries. The changes are always good for some place
and bad for somewhere else. The observations will help scientists to answer
fundamental questions about how Earth's land, oceans, and atmosphere
are connected, allowing them to predict the shape of events in the future.
These observations can now be built into models that tell
us how fires and other natural events are influenced by each one-degree change in
ocean temperature. From the vantage of space, NASA's
network of satellites and instruments will explore how such small changes
can have a broad affect on people around the globe. And reveal the dynamic
big picture of the 2015 El Nino.
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