El Niño and La Niña are climatic phenomenon that have important impacts on the global climate, affecting weather and seasons. These unpredictable and natural occurrences can cause flooding and drought, depending on the location in the world. The GLOBE ENSO (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment El Niño Southern Oscillation) project was founded to engage students of all ages in learning where El Niño impacts specific places and how much people are affected by these impacts. The goal is to connect students with their local environment and encourage them to understand weather and climate through hands-on learning. The students use GLOBE ENSO protocols to observe changes in climate averages. These protocols include precipitation, air temperature, surface temperature, soil temperature, SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite) soil moisture and biometry, of both canopy and ground cover. They are then able to correlate temperature and precipitation measurements with changes in phenology observations. The analyses are compared locally and globally using partnerships between schools and NASA scientists using satellite imagery.

http://scistarter.com/project/1226-GLOBE%3A%20El%20Nino