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‘Hiatus’ in global warming caused by Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic warming due to climate change has turbocharged the Pacific Equatorial trade winds leading to fewer El Nino events in the last decade, a combined UNSW and ARCCSS study has shown.

The increase in these trade winds may be to blame for tropical Pacific cooling, amplification of Californian drought, dramatic sea level rise in the Western Pacific and the decrease in global surface temperatures rise since 2001.

The warming of the Atlantic Ocean created high pressure zones in the upper atmosphere over that basin and low pressure zones close to the surface of the ocean, resulting in the wind increases.

When the wind speeds return to normal, global temperatures are predicted to rise rapidly, returning to the levels projected within a decade.

Read more at University of New South Wales

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