According to the latest climate studies, the world may face a new average temperature record in 2023 or 2024 due to the development of the El Niño weather phenomenon. The El Niño phenomenon is a sharp rise in the temperature of the surface layer of water in the Pacific Ocean by 5-9 ° C and is associated with a reverse change in the direction of the winds along the equator and drying of moist air, which causes a significant temperature spike.
The site informs more about this. Reuters.
Note that two phenomena that are characteristic of the equatorial zone of the Pacific Ocean – El Niño and La Niña – are opposite extreme values of water temperature and atmospheric pressure. El Niño is characterized by a sharp increase in the temperature of the surface water layer (by 5-9 ° C), and La Niña is characterized by a decrease in surface water temperature below the climatic norm in the east of the tropical Pacific Ocean.
Climate models predict that after La Niña summer weather in the Pacific Ocean, which slightly reduces global temperatures, the world will return to El Niño conditions, a warmer counterpart. During El Niño, winds blowing westward along the equator slow down and warm water pushes eastward, creating high ocean surface temperatures.
EU Copernicus Climate Director Carlo Buontempo opined that El Niños are usually associated with record temperatures on a global level. Although it is not known whether this will happen in 2023 or 2024, the likelihood of a return to El Niño conditions by the end of the summer and the possible development of a strong El Niño before the end of the year remains very high.
Recall that 2016 was the hottest year in the world, it was at this time that a strong El Niño occurred. However, climate change causes extreme temperatures even in years when this phenomenon does not occur. The past eight years have been the hottest on record, reflecting a long-term warming trend driven by greenhouse gas emissions.
Friederike Otto, Senior Lecturer at Imperial College London’s Grantham Institute, said El Niño-induced temperatures could worsen the effects of climate change that many countries are already feeling, including severe heatwaves, droughts and wildfires. If El Niño does develop, then there is every chance that 2023 will be even hotter than the hottest year 2016.
Earlier, Cursor informed that new accelerators of global warming had been discovered.
