El Nino - A Mediagraphy

redline 

by Linda Musser 
MC Journal: The Journal of Academic Media Librarianship, v6 #1, Spring 1998 

INTRODUCTION

News of El Nino confronts us daily. From drought in southeast Asia to floods in the western United States, the El Nino Current has affected most if not all of the world. Many books, articles and reports have been written to describe this phenomenon but, in many ways, El Nino is best illustrated with pictures showing the growth and movement of this warm water phenomenon across the Pacific Ocean. This mediagraphy describes materials which depict El Nino via images. It is organized into four categories - film & videotape, other non-print media such as slides and CD-ROMs, print images such as posters and maps, and WWW resources. Materials for all age groups are included. Selected Web sites containing significant amounts of data, links and image content are also included. Given the changing understanding of El Nino, the entries are in date order rather than the traditional alphabetic arrangement. 

FILM AND VIDEOTAPE

El Nino and changing climate. 1997. 120 min. Federal Document Clearing House, Inc. 1 videocassette. 
"A CNN special presentation". Part 1 of this two-part special is titled 'Nino 97, troubled water'. 

Time for kids, v.1, pt.1 - El Nino stirs up wacky weather. 1997. 32 min. Turner Learning Inc. 1 videocassette 
A CNN Newsroom news video. The El Nino segment is 4 min. long. 

Condella's weather class [no.] 10, El Nino. 1997. 30 min. WITI-TV. 1 videocassette. 
Describes how Lake Michigan affects Wisconsin's weather plus the El Nino current and its effects. 

Climate, salmon abundance, and the Pacific Salmon Treaty. 1997. 60 min. Western Washington University. 1 videocassette. 
Recorded live, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 1997 in Miller Hall, Western Washington University. Kathleen Miller, from the Environmental and Societal Impacts Group, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, addresses the effects of El Nino and other climate changes on the Pacific Salmon Treaty. 

Savage skies, v.3 - Monsters of the deep. 1996. Produced by Liz McLeod ; directed by Bill Lyons, Julian Farino. 57 min. MPI Home Video. 1 videocassette. 
A Granada and Thirteen-WNET production. Videocassette release of a 1996 television production. Describes the ocean effects that create hurricanes and also delves into the phenomenon known as El Nino, a current in the Pacific Ocean that affects weather all over the world. 

Water and weather. (Ocean blue series). 1995. 53 min. Films for the Humanities. 1 videocassette. 
Explains El Nino and its effect on the weather. 

El Nino: southern oscillation sea surface temperatures, 1982-1995. 1995. Produced by Chris Guillemot and Kevin Trenberth. 4 min. National Center for Atmospheric Research. 1 videocassette. 
Studies the weather phenomenon known as El Nino, a complex interaction of atmosphere and ocean, providing animated sequences of the mean annual cycle of sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) and accompanying SST anomalies in the Pacific Ocean from 1982-1995. Notes that the Pacific is where the dominant global SST variability is seen as part of the El Nino Southern Oscillation phenomenon and indicates that the anomalies are defined as departures from the long-term 1950-1979 mean. Observed SSTs provided by the Climate Analysis Center, NOAA. 

CNN Newsroom chronolog, January 1995. 1995. 30 min. + guide. Turner Multimedia. 1 videocassette. 
Contains a segment titled "El Nino update". 

CNN Newsroom chronolog, November 1994. 1994. 29 min. + 1 guide. Turner Multimedia. 1 videocassette. Contains a segment titled "El Nino stirs up stormy weather" (2 min.) 

International Forum on Forecasting El Nino, Launching an International Research Institute, 6-8 November 1995. 1996. 17 min. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of Global Programs. 1 videocassette. 

The Weather classroom, v.6. 1994. 10 min. The Weather Channel. 1 videocassette. 
Segments recorded from The Weather Channel. Includes a short segment titled "Satellite El Nino". 

Farming a sunburnt country: managing around Australia's high-risk climate. 1994. 36 min. + booklet + 14 leaflets + 2 pamphlets. Australia Bureau of Meteorology. 1 videocassette. 
Discusses the effects of El Nino in Australia. 

Severe storms. 1993. 18 min. Weather Channel. 1 videocassette. Includes a segment on El Nino. 

TOGA COARE: Unlocking the mysteries of El Nino. 1993. 20 min. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 1 videocassette. 
Describes the interdisciplinary effort to study ocean-atmosphere interaction near New Guinea and the Solomon Islands and its effect on the ENSO - El Nino Southern Oscillation phenomenon. 

ENSO SST monthly mean anomalies Pacific sector January 1982-1992. 1992. 5 min. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.1 videocassette. 
Consists of graphics showing mean monthly sea surface temperature anomalies. 

El Nino, drought to deluge. 1992. Produced and directed by Linda Mercer Lloyd. 26 min. Weather Channel. 1 videocassette. 
Explains what is and is not known about El Nino, a complex interaction of atmosphere and ocean born off the coast of Peru every three to seven years that touches the lives of people from Florida to India. Describes the impact of this weather phenomenon, from droughts and deluges to fires and floods. 

SIGGRAPH video review, issue 74. 1991. 50 min.SIGGRAPH Video Review. 1 videocassette. Contains segment no.23 titled "El Nino satellite observation downburst simulation". 

The Return of the child, the effects of El Nino. (The Blue revolution, 7). 1990. Produced and directed by Brian Nicholls. 27 min. Films for the Humanities and Sciences. 1 videocassette. 
Charts the birth and development of the weather system El Nino, detailing its ferocity and its relation to the ocean waters. Traces the roots of the study of waves, ocean currents, and the interaction of the sea and sky, and explains how the most severe El Nino on record was first noticed in 1982. 

Mapping the weather. (The Blue revolution; 8) 1990. Produced and directed by Brian Nicholls. 26 min. Films for the Humanities and Sciences. 1 videocassette. 
Discusses ways to measure weather and efforts made to forecast it, along with examining economic and human effects of weather. El Nino is discussed in this context. 

Oceans and climate. 1989. Produced by Tony Jolly. 25 min. Coronet/MTI Film & Video. 1 videocassette. 
Looks at the relationship between the ocean and the atmosphere, the interaction of which has a direct effect on our climate. The El Nino current and its effects are described. 

El Nino and long range forecasting. 1987. Q.I.D.C. 53 min. + leaflets. 1 videocassette. 
El Nino segment is ca. 30 min. long. 

The Blue planet. (Planet Earth; 2). 1986. Annenberg/CPB Collection, Produced by WQED. 59 min. Films Inc. 1 videocassette. 
Reveals discoveries about the oceans and findings about El Nino. Images from the Space Shuttle are included. 

El Nino, violent weather pattern. 1985. 20 min. ABC News. 1 videocassette. 
Describes the effect of the El Nino Current on weather. 

A satellite imagery film documentation of the extraordinary El Nino event of 1982-1983, equatorial Atlantic. 1985. 15 min. NOAA. 1 videocassette. 
Presents satellite infrared imagery from the GOES-East satellite taken at 1 hour intervals from November 1982 - June 1983. 

A satellite imagery film documentation of the extraordinary El Nino event of 1982-1983, equatorial Pacific. 1984. 15 min. NOAA. 1 videocassette. 
Presents satellite infrared imagery from the GOES-West satellite taken at 1 hour intervals from May 1982 - November 1982. 

OTHER NON-PRINT MEDIA (SLIDES, CD-ROM, LASERDISC)

The El Nino CD-ROM. (EarthGuides series v.1). 1997. REMedia. 1 cd-rom. MAC and PC compatible. 
Contains video clips, animation, photographs and text describing causes and effects of El Nino as well as how scientists predict and model the phenomenon. 

Coral paleoclimatology. 1996. NOAA Paleoclimatology Program, National Geophysical Data Center. 20 slides + 1 script 13 leaves. 
World Data Center-A for Paleoclimatology, Educational Slide Project. Slides accompanied by text: Coral paleoclimatology natural recorders of interannual climatic variability in the tropical oceans and seas, written and compiled by Thomas G. Andrews. Describes El Nino's effect on coral reefs. Only about 4 slides are images depicting El Nino. 

The water planet: oceanography, marine biology and freshwater systems. 1995. Videodiscovery Inc. 1 laserdisc + teacher's manual + image directory. 
Contains several segments and images on El Nino. 

El Nino and the Peruvian anchovy fishery. (Understanding global change series) 1992. NCAR Global Change Instruction Program. 2 computer disks 3 1/2 in. + text. MAC and PC compatible. 
Anchovy simulation game allows user to manage the Peruvian anchovy fishery in light of the effects of El Nino. 

Earth/space science, slide set for educators. 199?. NASA. 81 p. + 123 slides + 60 prints. Also available on the WWW at http://eospso.gsfc.nasa.gov/eos_edu.pack/toc.html. 
Contains 2 slides illustrating El Nino. 

Our changing world weather, pt.2 - El Nino. 1984. Educational Dimensions Group. 1 filmstrip 35 mm. + 1 teacher's guide + sound cassette. 
Presents scientific facts on the transformation of weather and shows how the shift in sea temperatures from El Nino causes devastating weather changes. 

PRINT IMAGES (MAPS, ATLASES, POSTERS)

El Nino. (Reports to the nation on our changing planet, no.3). 1994. Boulder, CO: UCAR/OIES. 1 poster. Accompanied by text + illustrations on verso. 
Poster consists of an artist's composite drawing of an ocean wave plus satellite infrared views of the El Nino current. 

Atlas of tropical sea surface temperature and surface winds. (NOAA atlas no.8) 1989. By Michael S. Halpert. Silver Spring, MD: Climate Analysis Center, NOAA. 

El Nino and outgoing longwave radiation: an atlas of Nimbus-7 Earth radiation budget observations. (NASA reference publication 1163). 1986. By H. L. Kyle, P. E. Ardvanuy and R. R. Hucek. Washington, DC: NASA. 
The atlas contains sets of maps illustrating outgoing longwave radiation analyzed for the period 1980-1983 and anomaly maps based on pre-El Nino climatology. 

El Nino atlas 1982-83. 1984. Dania, FL: Nova University Oceanographic Center. 

El Nino's global impact 1982-83. 1983. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, 1 map 26 x 35 cm. 
This world map shows areas of drought, floods, and elevated sea surface temperature caused by El Nino. 

Meteorological atlas of the 1972-73 El Nino. 1980. By C. S. Ramage. Honolulu, HI: Department of Meteorology, University of Hawaii. 

El Nino watch atlas of physical, chemical and biological oceanographic and meteorological data. (Scripps Institution of Oceanography reference series 78-7). 1978. By William C. Patzert. National City, CA: Crest Offset. 

WORLD WIDE WEB RESOURCES

El Nino Resource Center 
(http://www.coaps.fsu.edu:80/lib/elninolinks/) 
. This site is a good place to start when looking for materials relating to El Nino. It contains news, cartoons, a comprehensive El Nino bibliography, and links to other El Nino web sites, both scientific and media generated. It also has a page of El Nino movies and animations which features over 20 variations of El Nino in motion. 

El Niño - Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Home Page 
(http://www.ogp.noaa.gov/enso/) 
The NOAA Office of Global Programs provides this site as a 'one-stop source' for information on El Nino. It has forecasts, statistics and links to many news reports from the media. 

El Nino Theme Page 
(http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/toga-tao/el-nino/) 
Sponsored by NOAA's Tropical Atmosphere-Ocean Project, this site is an excellent source of El Nino data such as temperature measurements, satellite data, and impacts. It also has many resources describing La Nina. 

El Nino Watch From Space 
(http://airsea-www.jpl.nasa.gov/ENSO/welcome.html) 
This NASA-JPL site provides many images and movies based on satellite observations. 

NASA Observatorium - El Nino section (http://observe.ivv.nasa.gov/nasa/earth/el_nino/elnino1.html) 
This is similar to an online museum exhibit describing and illustrating the effects of El Nino. 

NOVA Online's Tracking El Nino site 
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elnino/) 
This site documents NOVA's research into El Nino in preparation for a NOVA program in Fall 1998. It contains images of El Nino's effects around the world, the anatomy of El Nino, regular dispatch reports from correspondents and other links. 

TOPEX/Poseidon and El Nino 
(http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov/ninowatch/) 
This page provides information and images from the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite relating to El Nino. 

Yahoo's El Nino and La Nina page 
(http://www.yahoo.com/Science/Earth_Sciences/Meteorology/Weather_Phenomena/El_Ni_o_and_La_Ni_a/) 
Yahoo's El Nino and La Nina page provides an easy index to various websites related to El Nino. 

Most of the above Web Resources include images. Below are a few more el nino image files. 
Linda R. Musser is Head, Earth and Mineral Sciences Library, Penn State University, 105 Delke Building, University Park, PA 16802. 814-863-7073. Lrm4@psu.edu 

Copyright 1998 Linda Musser. All rights reserved. Commercial use requires permission of the author and the editor of this journal. 

The author and editors do not maintain links to World Wide Web resources. 
 

    ISSN 1069-6792
      Lori Widzinski, Editor (widz@acsu.buffalo.edu)
      Revised: 07/23/98
      URL: http://wings.buffalo.edu/publications/mcjrnl/v6n1/elnino.html