Drought in Europe, dwindling Arctic sea ice, a slow start to the Indian monsoon – unusually hot ocean temperatures can disrupt climate patterns around the world, as an ocean scientist explains.
Over the past three years, Earth’s climate system has accumulated an average of 11 Hiroshima bombs’ worth of excess energy per second. And it’s showing in the current surge in ocean temperature.
Kevin Trenberth, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
2016 was the world’s warmest year on record, due in part to a very strong El Niño event. But 2023 (and 2024) could beat that record – what should we expect?
There’s a 98% chance of a record hot year by 2028, and a 66% chance of exceeding the 1.5°C threshold for at least that year, according to the latest World Meteorological Organization update.
Where there’s fire, there’s smoke – could plumes from the Black Summer of fire have cooled regions of the Pacific and triggered a La Niña? New research suggests it’s possible.
Not all El Niño events lead to drought in Australia. Other factors are involved and it will take some time for drought to develop now catchments are wet and most dams are full.
We can now monitor coastal changes across thousands of beaches over the last 40 years, from Australia, New Zealand and Japan, to Chile, Peru, Mexico and California. Here’s what our new tool uncovered.
The latest Bureau of Meteorology forecast offers relief from record rain and floods brought about by La Niña. A longer-term outlook for El Niño is still up in the air – but its arrival would be disastrous.