Abstract of this project

El Niño is one example of a kind of climate variability that is well understood by a small group of scientists, but very poorly understood by educated citizens. I believe visualization technology is one method that could help disseminate current scientific knowledge about El Niño to the educated public. Over the last year I have created an animation to communicate the essence of El Niño phenomenon.

It is free to use this animation in your class, but please send email to me what class you want to use this. Please send me your(students) comments as well. ts24_atmark_duke.edu ----- Enjoy!

1. Introduction

Time 8:39, Size 73M

PlayIntro

2. Beginning of El Niño

Time6:56, Size 40M

PlayBeginning

3. Peru during El Niño

Time 7:22, Size 56M

PlayPeru

4. Recovery of El Niño

Time 4:06, Size 29M

PlayRecovery


Class which used this animation

  • MARINE BIOLOGY, Summer 2009 at University of Washington

    • Comments about animation

    From Deep Sea News

  • FYI - I watched all four of these excellent videos. And I must say, that you will never see El Nino the same. You will actually understand what it means! Plus he made some great animations/computer models that make visualizing what El Nino means all the more comprehensible
  • Same here watched all four videos. Excellent videos! If you have the time do watch them.
  • I loved the animation in support. Animation which clarifies and tells the story clearly, when words alone often fail. This is the best presentation I have seen on the El Nin?o. Now I wonder if I can convince him to do the PDO and the NAO too!

    • From Southern Fried Science

  • holy crap, Tachiro. That was massively more fascinating than I anticipated. I can't even imagine the amount of work that went into producing this. ... Very well done!
  • Excellent presentation and very well done! This has got to be the best presentation and explanation of El Nino I've come across. Seeing that I can now comprehend what El Nino and La Nina are, which is a feat in itself. Not only that but will now be able to explain it. Bravo!
  • I congratulate you on a marvelous series on El Ni?o and I echo the fact that it is one of a kind. ... Again, forgive this rant, your level of accomplishment is very high. Maybe someday your group will get the bug to do an animation of the on-shore dynamics that accompany the ocean phenomena.
  • This is wonderful. It takes a very complex topic and breaks it down into understandable parts.

    • From Dan's Wild Wild Science Journal

  • Taichiro has put together a series of videos on El Nino that are superb! I learned some new things and I suspect most Meteorologists who are not active in researching ENSO science will too.

    • Citation Instructions

    If you want to use this animation in a conference, a peer-reviewed paper or other scientific report, please cite it as follows:

    Sakagami, T., R.B. Brady, and R.T. Barber, El Nino Animation V1.25. Available Online: http://www.duke.edu/~ts24/ENSO

    Etc Info

    You can watch those animations through Youtube. Animation resolution is worse than this site.

    Old version 2008/10 V1.1 is here.

    Credits

    3D Globe image is in this site and animation: CSIRO.

    Kelp and Sardines: Califorina Department of Fish & Game

    Wall Street: Wall street trader

    This web page is using Shadowbox.js to show the QuikTime animations