Niño
-
Environment
Research reveals an important connection between westerly wind bursts and El Niño development
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain El Niño is a climatic phenomenon characterized by warming sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Oceans, and is known to cause extreme weather events around the world, from droughts and floods to agriculture and ecosystem disruptions. Despite its global influence, the mechanisms behind El Niño are complex and not fully understood, making…
Read More » -
Earth
Atmosphere Rivers describe the atypical years of El Niño and La Niña
Credit: NOAA GOES-WEST El Niño and La Niña are climatic phenomena associated with wet, dry winter conditions in the southwestern United States, respectively. However, in 2023, La Niña year was found to be very wet in the southwest rather than dry. A new study from scientists at the Oceanography Institute in San Diego, California found that atmospheric rivers account for…
Read More » -
Biology
El Niño drought reveals survival advantage of monkeys with strong stress response
Two white-faced capuchin monkeys were spotted holding hands in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Credit: Susan Perry Costa Rican capuchin monkeys that experienced a stronger physiological response to mild drought are better suited to survive even extreme drought, researchers found in a new UCLA-led study. Most research on wildlife and humans focuses on the damage, or “wear and tear,” that stress responses…
Read More » -
Earth
El Niño Southern Oscillation caused temperature rise in 2023, research shows
El Niño and La Niña are warm and cold periods of the natural climate pattern across the tropical Pacific Ocean, known as El Niño Southern Oscillation, or “ENSO” for short. This pattern changes erratically every two to seven years, causing predictable changes in ocean temperatures and disrupting normal wind and rain patterns across the tropics. These changes in the seasonal…
Read More » -
Environment
Researchers discover that extreme El Niño events cause short-term CO₂ fluctuations
Sensitivity of AGR to tropical MAT (γT) over a 25-year moving window from 1959 to 2020 (see Materials and Methods). Credit: Science Advances (2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adl6155 Recent research challenges previous assumptions about the relationship between atmospheric carbon dioxide and tropical temperatures. Between 1959 and 2011, atmospheric CO₂ content responded twice as strongly to temperatures in the tropics than before. This…
Read More » -
Environment
Ice age clues and advanced climate models reveal how El Niño weather patterns change
An 8x microscope image of washed tropical marine sediments shows a large number of foraminifera shells. Credit: Kaustubh Tirumalai, University of Arizona The last ice age peaked about 20,000 years ago, with massive glaciations and dramatic climate changes that transformed Earth’s oceans, landscapes and ecosystems. According to a study led by the University of Arizona, Earth’s last ice age could…
Read More » -
Earth
Earth’s biggest mass extinction event 250 million years ago shows what can happen when El Niño gets out of control
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain About 252 million years ago, the Earth suddenly warmed. Over a geologically short period of a few tens of thousands of years, 90% of species became extinct. Even insects, which are rarely affected by such events, suffered devastating losses. The Permian-Triassic mass extinction was the largest of the “Big Five” mass extinctions in Earth’s history. Scientists…
Read More »
