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Into Living Things
If you were going to study El Niño, how would you do
it? Maybe fly a plane into a storm to collect data, study
satellite records for sea surface temperatures, or use buoys
to measure sea surface winds? Those are all good
choices—and reflect what some scientists are doing
now—to help researchers understand what's going on with
El Niño today.But how about using living things—like trees and coral reefs—and everyday occurrences—like snowfalls—to look at what's happened in past climates in order to understand what's happening today, or what might happen in the future? Scientists who do this call themselves paleoclimatologists. Check out some of the things they study and what they can learn: References Photo: © T.W. Swetnam and A.C. Caprio Anatomy of El Niño | Chasing El Niño | El Niño's Reach Dispatches | Resources | Mail | Site Map | El Niño Home Editor's Picks | Previous Sites | Join Us/E-mail | TV/Web Schedule About NOVA | Teachers | Site Map | Shop | Jobs | Search | To print PBS Online | NOVA Online | WGBH © | Updated November 2000 |