BERNARD SHAW, CNN ANCHOR: El Nino and La Nina are weather conditions known for their devastating hurricanes and droughts. Now, scientists are launching an ambitious effort to better predict the impact these systems have on the world's climate. CNN's Natalie Pawelski reports.</s>NATALIE PAWELSKI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They are only a few feet long, but researchers say they are powerful: floating sensors designed to gather information on the world's oceans, where much of the planet's weather is born.</s>JAMES BAKER, NOAA ADMINISTRATOR: This kind of information is critical for understanding climate, to do the models that we talk about for weather and climate forecasting.</s>PAWELSKI: In the wake of the strong El Nino of 1982, researchers set up a network of fixed buoys in places like the tropical Pacific to detect the first signs of big weather systems, like El Nino and La Nina. But the new generation of floats are not stuck in one spot, and they're not restricted to the ocean's surface. As this animation shows, they sink, 6,000 feet down, and drift for 10 days or so, measuring temperature, salt levels and currents. Then they rise to the surface and send the information to a satellite before starting their deep dives all over again.</s>NORMAN MINETA, U.S. SECRETARY OF COMMERCE: Research has revealed that what happens in the deep ocean is a big part of where the world's weather patterns begin. By monitoring changes in our oceans, we will be able to provide the basis for understanding longer-term climate and environmental patterns.</s>PAWELSKI: Plans call for 3,000 floats, paid for by a dozen countries, to set sail over the next three years. Natalie Pawelski, CNN.
New Floats Will Help Researchers Monitor Oceans