Impact Of Climate Change On El Niño-Southern Oscillation:
There is a growing body of research suggesting that climate change can cause extreme and more frequent El Niño and La Niña events.
- A study was conducted recently on this using one of South Korea’s fastest supercomputers,
Findings of the latest study:
- Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide can cause a “weakening of future simulated ENSO sea surface temperature variability.”
- Future El Niño events will lose heat to the atmosphere more quickly due to the evaporation of water vapour.
- In the future there will be a reduced temperature difference between the eastern and western tropical Pacific, inhibiting the development of temperature extremes during the ENSO cycle.
- Also, there can be a weakening of tropical instability waves in the projected future, which can cause a disruption of the La Niña event.
El Niño and La Niña:
- They are two natural climate phenomena occurring across the tropical Pacific Ocean and influence the weather conditions all over the world.
- While the El Niño period is characterised by warming or increased sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, a La Niña event causes the water in the eastern Pacific Ocean to be colder than usual.
- Together, they are called ENSO or El Niño-Southern Oscillation
