Word: oceaneering
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...Pacific Northwest. This Tristan is being staged by Francesca Zambello, whose penchant for scandalizing stodgy opera buffs with a startling blend of flashy theatrics and unabashed feminism has made her the most controversial opera director of her generation. "Tristan's ship," Zambello explains gleefully, "is a huge ocean liner that has Isolde in the middle--as if she's in a womb or a prison--and the lower deck is an engine room with sweaty bodies. When I saw the set, I thought, 'People are just going to freak...
...question is what's going to happen in the coming hurricane season. The westerly wind patterns that El Nino fosters tend to shear off the tops of developing Atlantic Ocean hurricanes. Last year, for example, when El Nino was firmly in control, the Atlantic hurricane season was over almost before it began. La Nina, by contrast, partners with wind patterns that favor the formation of Atlantic Ocean hurricanes. The problem is that forecasters at the moment are looking at a mixed picture. While sea-surface temperatures in parts of the tropical Pacific have dropped precipitately, there are still substantial patches...
This was the sign meteorologists had been waiting for. Not only does the sharp fall in ocean temperatures signal the breakup of the giant pool of warm water in the tropical Pacific that triggered one of the century's greatest El Ninos, but it may also signal the birth of El Nino's unruly twin sister, the climatological reversal that scientists call La Nina ("the girl...
Trouble is, La Nina is likely to bring her own set of weather problems. Last week scientists meeting in Boulder, Colo., at a La Nina summit sponsored by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) sketched out a lengthy list: more Atlantic Ocean hurricanes. Colder winters across Canada. Wetter winters in the Pacific Northwest. Warmer, dryer winters in the Southern U.S. More wildfires in Florida. Lower wheat yields in Argentina. Torrential rains in Southeast Asia...
...Nino. But as the scientists at last week's workshop agreed, it is not just a mirror image. For one thing, La Ninas in general are never quite as cold as El Ninos are warm. Also, while El Ninos grow in strength with each degree of change in ocean temperature, La Ninas do not. The reason can be traced to the physics that links the atmosphere to the ocean. What allows El Nino to affect weather worldwide is the intrusion of unusually warm water into the eastern Pacific. As this happens, storms (which feed off warm water) inevitably move eastward...