In the News
Robot Boats are Sailing the Seven Seas to Predict El Nino
Self-driving boats, kitted out with scientific sensors, could hold the key to avoiding the next major weather disaster. The boats, created by Saildrone, are being used by the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory to enhance data gathered from the Pacific Ocean, where water temperature patterns are helping scientists understand the El Niño phenomenon. Being able to predict the next event could save millions of dollars and countless lives.
Ocean forecast offers seasonal outlook for Pacific Northwest waters
By now we are used to the idea of seasonal weather forecasts – whether to expect an El Niño ski season, or an unusually warm summer. These same types of climate models are now being adapted to make seasonal forecasts for the region’s coastal waters.
Alert! El Niño To Bring Fastest Rise in CO2 in 2016
Climate scientists warned that levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) is going to be at its highest this year. Contrary to what experts have previously estimated, and helped by El Nino, CO2 levels will exceed a benchmark of 400 parts per million (ppm) for the entire year, as measured atop Hawaii's famous Mauna Loa volcano.
NOAA invests $4.5 million to improve ocean observations for weather and climate prediction
NOAA’s Climate Program Office announced today that it is investing $4.5 million in four projects to test technology designed to improve the Tropical Pacific Observing System, an array of buoys in the tropical Pacific used to better understand El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), how it develops, and how it affects Earth’s weather.
Impact of Recent El Niño event
We are coming to the end of the strong El Niño event, which is associated with a warming of the central and eastern tropical Pacific. But now should we expect an equally strong La Niña event to follow? Mike McPhaden, NOAA’s El Niño expert explains what this will mean to our climate.
Scientists: 2016 likely to be hottest year on record despite looming La Niña
The phenomenon known as El Niño, which combined with human-caused warming to supercharge global temperature in 2015/16 and brought chaotic weather worldwide, is officially on its way out. But stepping quickly into El Niño’s shoes is its cooler counterpart, La Niña.
Summer 2014 winds gave the 2015-16 El Niño a head start
Following a large westerly wind burst in February 2014, buzz developed that a strong El Niño event would occur in the following winter. However, during June and July of 2014, anomalous easterly winds along the equator occurred, forestalling the developing El Niño.
Leftover warm water in Pacific Ocean fueled massive El Niño
A new study provides insight into how the current El Niño, one of the strongest on record, formed in the Pacific Ocean. The new research finds easterly winds in the tropical Pacific Ocean stalled a potential El Niño in 2014 and left a swath of warm water in the central Pacific. The presence of that warm water stacked the deck for a monster El Niño to occur in 2015, according to the study’s authors.
Fizzled 2014 El Niño fired up ongoing monster El Niño
The historic El Niño event currently shaking up Earth’s weather rose like a phoenix from the hot remains of a failed 2014 El Niño, new research suggests.
El Niño upsets seasons and upends lives globally
The World Health Organization has estimated that worldwide, El Niño-related weather is putting 60 million people at increased risk of malnutrition, water- and mosquito-borne diseases and other illnesses.
Tracking ‘marine heatwaves’ since 1950 – and how the ‘blob’ stacks up
In the northeast Pacific, the record shows that marine heatwaves are more likely during an El Niño year and when the Pacific Decadal Oscillation brings warmer temperatures off the west coast of North America.
Severe drought, salinization forecast to continue in April
Heat and severe saltwater intrusion look set to continue to dominate Vietnam’s weather conditions next month, given the current impact of El Niño.
Peruvian Navy Uses Buoys Provided by United States to Monitor El Niño
Peru’s Navy recently placed 12 profiling buoys in the Pacific Ocean in an effort to help prevent the damaging effects of the El Niño climate phenomenon.
El Niño Upsets Seasons and Upends Lives Worldwide
In rural villages in Africa and Asia, and in urban neighborhoods in South America, millions of lives have been disrupted by weather linked to the strongest El Niño in a generation.
Epic El Niño yields massive data trove
Floods have ravaged parts of South America. Crops are drying up in Africa. Corals are bleaching around the world. The epic El Niño warming event in the tropical Pacific Ocean has boosted temperatures and affected people and ecosystems around the globe.