A new “brother” of The boy y The girl has been discovered by a group of scientists. It is a phenomenon that has been established in the world for all this time, but hidden, without anyone noticing its presence.
Upon finding it, the group of researchers from the University of ReadingIn England, He baptized him as Southern Hemisphere Circumpolar Wavenumber-4 Pattern (SST-W4) and described it as “finding a new switch in the Earth’s climate.”
And, like the La Niña and El Niño phenomena, SST-W4 or the “New Niño” has the ability to cause changes in the climate of the entire southern hemispherethat is, in countries in Africa, America, Oceania and some in Asia.
Among the list of Latin American countries are Argentina, ChileBolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Colombia.
But what is this new phenomenon all about and how does it manifest itself on Earth? This is all that is known so far.
A “new El Niño” has been discovered, the hidden phenomenon that will change the climate in Latin America
By now, the world is almost fully aware of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the phenomenon that has three stages (El Niño, La Niña and Neutral). that has been present in recent decades, changing the climate abruptly.
ENSO has the ability to cool or warm sea surface temperatures and is associated with various extreme climates and natural disasters such as floods, drought, landslides, avalanches, forest fires, among others.
Furthermore, it is an unpredictable phenomenon.
For example, We are now waiting for the arrival of La Niña, which had been predicted to establish itself since the beginning of the year.however, as explained by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Its arrival date and the intensity with which it will be presented are still in doubt.
For its part, The newly discovered phenomenon, SST-W4, acts in a similar way, only it originates further south than ENSO, in the southwestern subtropical Pacific Ocean—heading towards Australia and New Zealand.
But how does the climate change?
A “new El Niño” has been discovered, the hidden phenomenon that will change the climate in Latin America
Scientists have long since begun to notice that There was something else that was affecting the fluctuations in sea temperature. And it was not the well-known El Niño and La Niña.
However, after several analyses and investigations with a cutting-edge climate model that could represent 300 years of climatic conditions, They managed to identify this new pattern that surrounds the entire southern hemisphere.
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“This pattern creates four alternating warm and cold areas in the oceans, forming a complete circle in the southern hemisphere. “The weather pattern works like a global chain reaction,” the authors of the study said in a recent statement.
To understand it better, Imagine the ocean between New Zealand and Australia. There, a small region changes its temperature, thus becoming a kind of “control lever” for the SST-W4. that influences the climate of the atmosphere.
“This creates a wave-like pattern that travels across the Southern Hemisphere, driven by strong westerly winds,” the researchers added. That is, Along with wind patterns, ocean temperatures create areas of warm and cold air.
This way, When the westerly winds arrive, they carry this hot or cold air and spread it across the planet, causing temperature changes in certain countries to be stronger or weaker.
A “new El Niño” has been discovered, the hidden phenomenon that will change the climate in Latin America
And, although its operation is somewhat similar, the “New Child” It occurs completely independently of the meteorological phenomena La Niña and El Niño. They can even coexist, making climate changes even more intense.
According to the authors of the study, published in the journal Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, SST-W4 has been present all this time, suggesting that it is part of the Earth’s climate system.only they had never been able to identify it until now.
Besides, The research showed that the peak season for SST-W4 would be during the southern summer (from December 21 to March 20). This means that the climate changes caused by this new phenomenon would begin between December and February, and would also occur every year.
As the scientists explained, The discovery of the “New Niño” or SST-W4 may go some way to explaining why the Southern Hemisphere is suffering from intense droughts, heat and storms.
“There is a need to better understand the link between climate variability in the Southern Hemisphere and the southwestern subtropical Pacific,” the researchers said in the statement.
And it is that The discovery of this new phenomenon is the first step towards understanding the new climate patterns affecting the world today. So far, the lessons they’ve learned are that it’s important to pay attention to the ocean’s interaction with the atmosphere.
A “new El Niño” has been discovered, the hidden phenomenon that will change the climate in Latin America
This is why it is said that the discovery of the “New Child” is, in a way, beneficial.
“Understanding this new weather system could greatly improve weather forecasts and climate prediction, especially in the Southern Hemisphere.”he highlighted Balaji Senapatia researcher at the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading and lead author of the study
In addition, the author told BBC World what “It could help explain climate changes that have so far been a mystery and improve our ability to predict extreme weather and climate events.”
