Monday 22 February 2021

Future ocean warming boosts tropical rainfall extremes

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the most energetic naturally occurring year-to-year variation of ocean temperature and rainfall on the planet. The irregular swings between warm and wet El Niño conditions in the equatorial Pacific and the cold and dry La Niña event influence weather conditions worldwide, with impacts on ecosystems, agriculture and economies. Climate models predict that the difference between El Niño- and La Niña-related tropical rainfall will increase over the next 80 years, even though the temperature difference between El Niño and La Niña may change only very little in response to global warming. A new study published in Communications Earth & Environment uncovers the reasons for this surprising fact.

source https://phys.org/news/2021-02-future-ocean-boosts-tropical-rainfall.html