Animation with Transcript
Transcript
[Pacific Crab]
Transcript
[A cartoon image of a hermit crab peeking out of a hole in the sand appears on screen. The crab looks around, music plays and the crab scuttles off over to a stereo where the following message is being played]
Male: Our story begins in the warm pool, the place in the Pacific where the trade winds sweep the world’s warmest ocean.
[More animated hermit crabs scuttle over towards the stereo]
Here clouds form as warm air rises. Across the Pacific clouds gather at three large meeting places.
[The camera pans up towards the sky to show a computer generated world map with directional arrows marking the winds]
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.
[A blue shadow moves across the computer generated world map]
Some years they move to different areas because of changes in trade winds and ocean temperatures.
[Image changes to an animated cloud swaying to the music being played]
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.
[Two signs an El Niño one and a La Niña one pop on either side next to the animated cloud]
[Image changes back to the computer generated world map with directional arrows marking the winds]
In an El Niño event trade winds weaken, warmer water moves to the east, and the cloud meeting places move closer together.
[Camera zooms in on the El Niño sign and then changes to a computer generated map zooming in on the island of Papua New Guinea]
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.
[Image changes back to the animated hermit crab scuttling across rocks and diving into a pool of water that has a fish in it. The hermit crab landing sees the water emptied from the rock pool, this angers the fish and it spits water in the hermit crabs face]
[Image changes back to the computer generated world map with directional arrows marking the winds coming from the east]
During El Niño tropical cyclone risk increases in the east in places like the Southern Cook Islands and Samoa.
[Image changes back to the animated hermit crab caught in heavy rain and wind; he is hit by a coconut and shoots off screen]
And in countries along the equator, like Kiribati, El Niño usually brings more rain and sometimes higher sea levels, which then lead to flooding.
[The hermit crab lands next to a hut which he jumps onto as the water starts to rise]
It can also mean a better time to catch tuna in Kiribati as the fish follow the warmer water into this area.
[Image changes to the animated hermit crab in the ocean with tuna leaping over it]
El Niño and its impacts usually last for one year, and then things return to normal. But El Niño can last longer.
[The camera moves upwards towards the sky to show the La Niña sign]
In some years the opposite of an El Niño occurs. Scientists call this La Niña.
[Image changes back to the computer generated world map with directional arrows marking the winds]
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.
[Image changes back to the animated hermit crap sighing as he scuttles off to find water]
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.
[Image changes back to the computer generated world map with clouds moving across it]
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.
[Image changes back to the animated hermit crab reaching some bleached coral, which sinks under water]
[Image has changed back to the animated hermit crab in front of the stereo]
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.
[The hermit crab opens a side panel of the stereo and walks inside where there is a see saw on one side is El Niño and on the other side La Niña]
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.
[The hermit crabs walks out of the stereo and is met by another hermit crab]
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 and the following text appears: Are you ready? Turn early warning into early action!]
[Logos of the sponsors appear on screen]
End.