糖心视频


Climate model suggests extreme El Ni帽o tipping point could be reached if global warming continues

Climate model suggests extreme El Ni帽o tipping point could be reached if global warming continues
El Ni帽o-Southern Oscillation teleconnection in PR, here represented as the median of composites of PR in December, January, and February in (a) during El Ni帽o in COLD, in (b) during La Ni帽a in COLD, in (c, d) same as (a, b), but here in CONTROL; in (e, f) same as (a, b) but here in WARM; stippling indicates significant values on a 99\% confidence level. Credit: Geophysical Research Letters (2024). DOI: 10.1029/2023GL107848

A trio of physicists and oceanologists, two with the University of Cologne's Institute of Geophysics and Meteorology and the third with the GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel, all in Germany, has found via the CESM1 climate model that an extreme El Ni帽o tipping point could be reached in the coming decades under current emissions.

The by Tobias Bayr, Stephanie Fiedler and Joke L眉bbecke is published in Geophysical Research Letters.

The El Ni帽o鈥怱outhern Oscillation (ENSO) is a climate phenomenon in which heat released in parts of the ocean into the atmosphere results in more rainfall in places like the western coast of North and South America and droughts in places like Canada and Africa. Over the past several years, weather watchers have noticed that ENSO events have become more extreme.

Prior research has shown that such extreme events used to occur approximately eight or nine times per century. Some in the field have suggested that rising global temperatures could make them happen more often.

To find out if that might be the case, the researchers gathered historical data, as well as data from other research efforts describing possible weather impacts due to rising , and fed it to the CESM1 model then ran it under increased-temperature scenarios. Current estimates suggest that an increase of 2.9掳C will occur by 2100 if are not stopped.

In their work, the model showed that if temperatures keep rising past 2100 to as much as 3.7掳C, a tipping point could be reached where virtually all ENSO events will be extreme. Such a tipping point, they note, suggests that even if mankind was somehow able to stop , it would take centuries for the weather to return to what they describe as "normal."

The model also showed that extreme ENSO events would happen more often, as well, perhaps as often as every four years. It also showed changes, such as the Gulf Stream dropping farther south, leading to far less rain in Canada and northern parts of the U.S., and more rain in southern parts of the U.S.

More information: Tobias Bayr et al, Is El Ni帽o鈥怱outhern Oscillation a Tipping Element in the Climate System?, Geophysical Research Letters (2024).

Journal information: Geophysical Research Letters

漏 2024 Science X Network

Citation: Climate model suggests extreme El Ni帽o tipping point could be reached if global warming continues (2024, July 15) retrieved 24 August 2025 from /news/2024-07-climate-extreme-el-nio-global.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Explore further

How climate patterns contribute to coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef

204 shares

Feedback to editors