In the News
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.