<aside> ♻️ Happy Friday Ecowarriors, today is the last day of learning about systems in nature. To finish off the week you’re going to learn about two really cool weather patterns that happen because of different ocean and wind sequences, El Niño and La Niña .

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Overview

Let's learn about one more part of the complicated system of wind and water we learned about yesterday: The El Niño and La Niña events.

Materials

• Art supplies for coloring (colored pencils, markers, crayons, etc.)
• Printed map from Monday's activity

The Story of El Niño and La Niña

Have you heard of El Niño and La Niña? In Spanish, El Niño means “the boy” and La Niña means “the girl”, but those happy names don’t reflect the danger that these events can create.

To start off, please watch this video as an introduction to the topic. If after watching the video, you feel like you want more information on this topic, this video goes into some more detail.

Now you will need the world map you put together at the start of this module, preferably printed out. This activity will walk through a description of El Niño activity throughout the world.

<aside> 💡 if you get stuck, look below for an example of the finished product!

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In the month of December in 1892, something was amiss in the waters of Peru. Those fishing had reported that there were no fish to be caught, the wind was blowing in the wrong direction, and the water temperature was warmer than it had been before.

Normally, the wind blows East to West. This month, however, the wind started blowing backwards.

1. On your map draw arrows in the “El Niño Activity” box representing which way the wind is blowing over the pacific ocean this month (your arrow should be pointing from West to East).

2. Use a red pen or pencil to mark where the warm water is (on the coast of Peru).

   The warm water led to a change in the rain patterns and more rain was falling all across the country of Peru.

3. On your map draw rain clouds over Peru.

   Peru was not the only area that was different this December. In Southeast Asia, the water was much colder. This meant less water evaporated into clouds, so there was less rain. This caused a drought.

4. Use a brown drawing utensil to color Indonesia, the country where the drought hit hardest.

   The water in the regions affected by dryness contributes to changing weather patterns in areas all over the world. In some parts of the world, it is increasingly wet, while in the others it is very hot.

5. On your map mark the Southern United States, Rwanda, and Argentina. Color these areas in blue to show that they are extra wet during this weather period.