The Pacific Ocean covers a third of the planet’s surface, so it’s no surprise that when its vast expanse along the Equator gets stuck in either a warm El Niño or cool La Niña phase, that has globe-spanning consequences.
The Pacific Ocean covers a third of the planet’s surface, so it’s no surprise that when its vast expanse along the Equator gets stuck in either a warm El Niño or cool La Niña phase, that has globe-spanning consequences.
Since September 2020, the Pacific has been in La Niña mode, with recent impacts ranging from intensified droughts parching the Horn of Africa, the American Southwest and southern South America to the extreme floods swamping Queensland, Australia, to reinforced forecasts of a very active Atlantic hurricane season and weaker Pacific season. The early-season deadly heat wave in India, fueled by human-driven global warming, was also likely spurred by the La Niña influence on global atmospheric circulation patterns.
The World Meteorological Organization just announced that the current La Niña cycle could persist into 2023, making it only the third “triple-dip” oceanic cool spell (three consecutive Northern Hemisphere winters of La Niña conditions) since 1950.
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration generally concurs, as does the International Research Institute for Climate and Society at Columbia University that issues regular forecasts of this consequential climatic phenomenon, which is called the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short.
Read more at: Columbia Climate School
Floods in Maryborough, Queensland, Australia, February 2022. (Photo Credit: Queensland Fire and Emergency Services)
