[Music plays]
(Narrator) Our story begins in the warm pool,
the place in the Pacific
where the trade winds sweep the world’s warmest ocean.
Here clouds form as warm air rises.
Across the Pacific clouds gather at three large meeting places.
These meeting places have scientific names.
There’s the South Pacific Convergence Zone,
the Intertropical Convergence Zone,
and the West Pacific Monsoon.
These cloud meeting places move throughout the year,
causing the usual wet seasons and dry seasons.
Some years they move to different areas
because of changes in trade winds and ocean temperatures.
This in turn causes changes to rainfall,
sea levels, and tropical cyclone risk.
Scientists call these changes in the air and ocean El Niño
and La Niña.
In an El Niño event trade winds weaken,
warmer water moves to the east,
and the cloud meeting places move closer together.
El Niño brings big changes to the temperature,
rain, and sea level in our region.
In some countries, such as Papua New Guinea and Palau,
it can cause dryer weather and lower sea levels,
sometimes leading to food and water shortages.
[Splash]
During El Niño tropical cyclone risk increases
in the east in places like the Southern Cook Islands and Samoa.
[Music plays]
[Wind howls]
And in countries along the equator, like Kiribati,
El Niño usually brings more rain
and sometimes higher sea levels,
which then lead to flooding.
It can also mean a better time to catch tuna in Kiribati
as the fish follow the warmer water into this area.
El Niño and its impacts usually last for one year,
and then things return to normal.
But El Niño can last longer.
In some years the opposite of an El Niño occurs.
Scientists call this La Niña.
In a La Niña event the trade winds get stronger,
pushing warmer water to the west,
and the cloud meeting places further apart.
In some countries close to the equator,
such as Tuvalu and Nauru,
La Niña can bring less rain and even drought.
This can affect locally grown food sources like
taro, banana, and grapefruit,
and sometimes lead to water shortages.
In other countries, like Fiji and the Solomon Islands,
La Niña usually brings warmer oceans,
more rain, and can cause flooding.
This can lead to coral bleaching,
waterlogged crops, and increase risk of diseases like
typhoid and dengue fever.
In the Solomon Islands La Niña also causes higher sea levels.
El Niño and La Niña are not climate change.
They are part of the natural climate system.
El Niño and La Niña will continue to happen in the future,
but climate change may intensify some of their impacts.
Learning how to adapt to the ups and downs
of El Niño and La Niña
will help to prepare for long term climate change.
Some El Niño and La Niña events are more severe than others.
Your local weather office is always watching El Niño and La Niña
to provide temperature, rain, and cyclone forecasts
that your island is likely to receive in the months ahead.
It’s important to undertake activities to prepare your area
for the impacts of El Niño and La Niña events.
There are many ways to do this.
Be sure to keep up to date with the forecast
from your local weather office,
and take time to make plans for the season ahead.
[Music plays]