1999 EARTH SCIENCE VIDEOTAPES |
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Tape Title | Record ID | Date Produced | TRT: |
Synoposis |
| EL NINO'S DRAMATIC IMPACT ON OCEAN BIOLOGY | G99-100 | 12/09/99 | 00:14:02 | The 1997-98 El Nino/La Nina had an unprecedented roller-coaster effect on the oceanic food chain across a vast swath of the Pacific, plunging chlorophyll levels to the lowest ever recorded in December 1997 and spawning the largest bloom of microscopic algae ever seen in the region the following summer. According to new results published in the Dec. 10 issue of the journal Science, El Nino also dramatically reduced the amount of carbon dioxide normally released into the atmosphere by the equatorial Pacific Ocean.
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TAPE CONTENTS: |
| ITEM (1): AN IMMENSE PACIFIC BLOOM - This sequence illustrates the vast size and intensity of the ocean's biological rebound from El Nino. Satellite imagery from NASA's Sea-viewing Wide-Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) instrument showed nearly a complete lack of plankton along the equatorial Pacific during El Nino. The cool waters associated with La Nina brought nutrients from the below the surface and enabled an enormous plankton bloom (shown in green).
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| ITEM (2): REBOUND FROM EL NINO - The SeaWiFS data revealed surprisingly low levels of plankton coinciding with El Nino's strongest phase. The cooler waters associated with La Nina brought a huge plankton bloom along the equator (shown in green).
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| ITEM (3): EXPLOSION IN THE GALAPAGOS -SeaWiFS documented the rapid demise of El Nino in the waters around the Galapagos Islands. The images show a explosion in plankton growth as the warm El Nino waters blamed for choking off essential ocean nutrients are replaced by deep cold upwelled waters. The false color images, which document plankton concentrations a period from May 9 - 24 1998, show that life in the region to the west archipelago has returned in remarkable abundance. High concentrations are shown red. Areas occluded by clouds are shown in white.
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| ITEM (4): THE CARBON CONNECTION - PHYSICAL PROCESSES - By understanding the magnitude of the huge plankton bloom, scientists were able to calculate how changes in biologic activity caused massive changes in carbon dioxide. Scientists determined that El Nino cut the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by 700 million metric tons. The deep ocean waters normally release large amounts of carbon dioxide. During El Nino, the carbon-dioxide-rich waters were held below the surface.
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| ITEM (5): THE CARBON CONNECTION - BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES - Nutrients in the cooler waters associated with La Nina were brought to the surface and helped fuel a huge plankton bloom. This animation shows how the tiny plants can lock up carbon when they die.
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| ITEM (6): THE 1997-98 EL NINO - The 1997-98 El Nino was truly a global event. The sequence shows a superposition of sea surface temperature anomalies on anomalies of the sea surface elevation. Warmer than normal temperatures are shown in red and cooler than normal temperatures are shown in blue.
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| ITEM (7): 3-D EL NINO - - The space-based perspective provided by satellite observations trace the evolution of El Nino (shown in red) from its beginning in early 1997 through its decline in early 1998. The onset of La Nina can be seen as the emergence cooler than normal temperatures (shown in blue) along the equator.
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| ITEM (8): -- PHYTOPLANKTON -- UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL - Images of phytoplankton and zooplankton. Plankton are lowest rungs on the oceanic food chain.
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| ITEM (9): BUOY ARRAY - Scientists also used data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Tropical Atmosphere Ocean array.
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| ITEM (10): EYE IN THE SKY - SEAWIFS - NASA's Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) gave researchers an unprecedented view into the extreme biological effects of this El Nino/La Nina event.
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| ITEM (11): HOW SEAWIFS "SEES" PLANKTON - The SeaWiFS instrument detects subtle differences in ocean color and is to determine the concentrations of chlorophyll found in plankton.
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| ITEM (12): SCIENTISTS B-ROLL - Scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center study El Nino and La Nina.
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| ITEM (13): INTERVIEW EXCERPTS WITH DR. GENE FELDMAN, RESEARCH OCEANOGRAPHER, NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER
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