El Niños Are Now Stronger than Any in the Past 1,000 Years, Study Finds
Researchers found El Niño events in the past 40 years were 36% stronger than preindustrial levels, based on 1,000 years of coral records.
- On Thursday, August 27, 2026, researchers published a study in Science revealing El Niño events have intensified 36% over the past 40 years, a shift linked to human-caused global warming.
- Lead author Julia Cole of the University of Michigan used 1,000-year-old Galápagos coral records as a 'time machine' to reconstruct Pacific temperature history and identify recent intensification patterns.
- The findings show a 16% jump in El Niño intensity over the past 40 years, marking an accelerating trend unlike the relative stability of the 1,000-year pre-industrial period.
- Stronger El Niño cycles exacerbate global weather extremes like floods and droughts, which climate scientist Kim Cobb of Brown University says suggests 'something about this important source of climate extremes has already changed.'
- NOAA models forecast the current 2026 event could reach historic levels, though experts like Michael Mann caution that coral data may not fully isolate human-caused signals from natural variability.
73 Articles
73 Articles
Climate change has greatly amplified the El Niño phenomenon, and the episodes recorded in the last four decades are unprecedented in the context of the last millennium, according to a study based on the analysis of corals in the Galápagos Islands. Researchers warn that the intensification of the phenomenon will worsen droughts, floods, wildfires and food insecurity worldwide.
El Niño intensity is currently at its highest level in the last millennium, coral analyses reveal. The post Oceans on the Edge – El Niño has become almost 40% stronger in 40 years appeared first on in.gr.
Research conducted by American paleoclimatologists and published in the journal Science has documented that El Niño phenomena in the Pacific Ocean have become more frequent and intense than at any time in the last century.
A surprising change has been revealed in the corals of the Galapagos Islands.
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