The End of El Niño: What It Means for Our Climate
In 2024, El Niño ended after influencing global climate with extreme weather conditions for a year. The natural climate phenomenon significantly altered sea levels and…
El Nino News
El Niño is a climatic phenomenon that describes the periodic warming of sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. This event typically occurs every two to seven years and can last between nine months to two years. El Niño is the warm phase of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle, with La Niña representing the cold phase. The phenomenon significantly impacts global weather patterns, leading to various effects such as increased rainfall in the southern United States and Peru, which can cause flooding, and drought in the Western Pacific and Southern Asia. Its influence also extends to altering marine ecosystems and affecting fish populations by changing water temperature and nutrient distribution. Understanding El Niño is crucial for predicting its impacts on global weather, agriculture, water resources, and disaster preparedness.
Tree Rings Reveal 2023 Was the Hottest Summer in 2,000 Years
2023’s summer was the hottest in the Northern Hemisphere in 2000 years, surpassing natural climate variability, as shown by tree-ring data. This breach of the…
Salty Secrets: NASA Decodes El Niño’s Coastal Impact
New findings have revealed a coastal realm highly sensitive to changes in runoff and rainfall on land. After helping stoke record heat in 2023 and…
Surging Seas: NASA Links Spike in 2023 Global Sea Level to El Niño
A long-term sea level dataset shows ocean surface heights continuing to rise at faster and faster rates over decades of observations. Global average sea level…
Rising Tides and Troubled Waters: NASA Forecasts El Niño-Driven Flood Fury This Winter
Such high-tide flooding that inundates roads and buildings along the west coast of the Americas tends to be uncommon outside of El Niño years, but…
El Niño’s Evolution: Cutting-Edge Observations From Sentinel-6
Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich monitors Pacific Ocean sea surface heights to gauge El Niño impacts. While 2023’s event seems less intense than 1997 and 2015, it…
Pacific Puzzles: How El Niño and La Niña Are Changing Their Dance
The behavior of the Pacific Walker Circulation has changed over the industrial era. The Pacific Ocean covers 32% of Earth’s surface area, more than all…
Global Fever: NASA Says July 2023 Sizzles As the Hottest Month on Record Ever Since 1880
According to NASA’s GISS, July 2023 was the hottest month on record, with significant temperature increases observed globally. The report underscores the human-driven warming trend,…
El Niño’s Surprising Lifeline: Ocean Current Safeguards Pacific Island Reefs
Scientists have found that unique ocean processes during El Niño events can help coral reefs survive the heat stress brought by climate change. Specifically, the…
Rising Suspicion: Satellite Sentinel-6 Detects Elusive El Niño in the Making
Kelvin waves, a potential precursor of El Niño conditions in the ocean, are rolling across the equatorial Pacific toward the coast of South America. Sentinel-6…
Strong El Niño Drives Nearly 6 Million Children Into Severe Hunger
Up to 3 times more children suffer severe hunger with each El Niño than from COVID-19. El Niño events provide a snapshot of the future…
Global Warming Simulation Reveals Possible End of El Niño/ La Niña Temperature Cycle
Highest resolution global warming simulation conducted to date reveals possible end of El Niño/ La Niña temperature cycle. The cycling between warm El Niño and…
El Niño Continues to Grow, Set to Bear Down on U.S.
The latest satellite image from the U.S./European Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM)/Jason-2 mission shows that the current strong El Niño brewing in the Pacific Ocean…
2015 El Niño Appears Likely to Equal the Event of 1997-98
NASA scientists continue to monitor and study this year’s El Niño, which appears likely to equal the event of 1997-98 – the strongest El Niño…
Possibility of El Niño Event in 2014 is Fading
Climatologists believe the latest Kelvin waves are the “last hurrah” for a much-hoped-for El Niño event in 2014. Prospects have been fading for an El…
New ScienceCast Video Examines the Evidence That an El Niño is Developing
A new four-minute-long ScienceCast video examines the evidence that an El Niño is developing in the Pacific. Every ten days, the NASA/French Space Agency Jason-2…