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🇮🇩 Indonesia /Environment & Climate

Study finds global warming is intensifying El Niño

From Republika · () Indonesian

Translated from Indonesian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • A study published in Science found that El Niño events are now 36% stronger than in the preindustrial period and 16% stronger over the past 40 years.
  • Researchers linked the intensification to the rise in global temperatures caused by human activity and fossil-fuel burning.
  • Pacific waters recently reached 2.7 degrees Celsius above normal, with further increases expected over the next two to four months.

Climate change is making El Niño more intense, according to a study published in the journal Science. Researchers found that the phenomenon is now 36% stronger than during the preindustrial period, while its strength has risen by 16% over the past 40 years.

The findings come as the strongest El Niño in several decades is forecast to develop in the coming months. El Niño occurs when Pacific waters warm, disrupting weather patterns around the world and increasing the risk of heatwaves, floods and droughts.

We found that the increasing strength of El Niño parallels the rise in global temperatures caused by human activity through fossil-fuel burning

· Julia ColeThe study’s lead author linked stronger El Niño events to human-caused global warming.

Julia Cole, a paleoclimate scientist at the University of Michigan and the study’s lead author, said the research began with a question about why El Niño’s effects on climate disasters were becoming stronger. Her team compared long-term El Niño records with global temperature increases and changes in extreme weather.

“We found that the increasing strength of El Niño parallels the rise in global temperatures caused by human activity through fossil-fuel burning,” Cole said. She examined El Niño data reaching back 900 years.

the climate system is a beast, and we are poking it with a stick

· Wallace BroeckerBoris Worm cited the climate scientist’s warning about the risks of disrupting the climate system.

Marine scientist Boris Worm of Dalhousie University, who was not involved in the study, said El Niño’s effects can range from collapsing local fisheries and killing coral reefs to severe drought and food shortages worldwide. He recalled climate scientist Wallace Broecker’s warning that “the climate system is a beast, and we are poking it with a stick.” Worm added that “El Niño’s fury could threaten the collective safety of us all.”

El Niño strength is measured using sea-surface temperatures in the central equatorial Pacific against the three-month average. The phenomenon begins at least 0.5 degrees Celsius above normal and becomes very strong at 2 degrees. Columbia University’s tracker recently recorded temperatures 2.7 degrees above normal and expects them to rise further in the next two to four months.

El Niño’s fury could threaten the collective safety of us all

· Boris WormThe Dalhousie University marine scientist described the wider risks posed by stronger El Niño events.
About this summary

Originally published by Republika in Indonesian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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