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Impact Of Climate Change On El Nino-Southern Oscillation

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