Fears of record-breaking El Niño event this year raise climate alarms - New Scientist
Fears of record-breaking El Niño event this year raise climate alarms | New Scientist
El Niño occurs when tropical Pacific Ocean temperatures are high JUAN GAERTNER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Alamy
El Niño occurs when tropical Pacific Ocean temperatures are high
JUAN GAERTNER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Alamy
The possibility of a record-strength El Niño climate pattern this year is raising alarm amongst climate scientists, who are watching Pacific Ocean temperatures closely. Even a weaker El Niño on top of human-driven global warming could have sweeping consequences for the climate, ranging from coral reef bleaching in Australia to flooding in East Africa, and also cost the global economy trillions of dollars.
“We have enough climate madness going on elsewhere without adding an El Niño to it,” …
Related Knowledge Center: Climate science
What began as a theory in the 1890s — that industrial emissions of carbon dioxide could increase global temperatures — had progressed to a scientific fact a century later. Scientists across a range of disciplines are studying the impact of the still-growing concentration of carbon dioxide and other so-called “greenhouse gases” in the atmosphere as they call for industrial and governmental policies to slow, then halt, the warming of the planet.