El Niño is now stronger than at any point in the last 1,000 years, study finds
A new study using fossilized coral records indicates that El Niño events in the eastern Pacific are currently more intense than at any point in the last 1,000 years. Researchers suggest that global warming is likely amplifying the energy and violence of these climate swings.
Why it matters
Understanding the link between climate change and ENSO variability is critical for predicting future extreme weather patterns and global disaster preparedness.
Getting violent El Niño is now stronger than at any point in the last 1,000 years, study finds “One more warning sign here of what we’re facing in a warmer world.”
49 Credit: NOAA Credit: NOAA Text settings Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only Learn more Minimize to nav Every few years, El Niño or its cool counterpart, La Niña, shifts rainfall across the tropics, dries out Australia, floods parts of Peru, and rearranges the weather on most of the planet. The two are the warm and cold swings of a single system, the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, or ENSO, and that system is the largest source of year-to-year climate variation on Earth. Its swings sit atop the steadily rising temperatures driven by global warming.
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