In the News
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.