El Niño strength reaches thousand-year high, research shows

New research from the University of Michigan indicates that El Niño events are currently stronger than at any point in the last thousand years. By analyzing living coral samples and ancient coral boulders from the Galápagos Islands, researchers reconstructed a millennium of climate history to reach this conclusion.

Lead author Julia Cole noted that the strength of El Niño events appears to change in parallel with rising global temperatures. The study suggests that the significant El Niño events observed over the last 40 years are not normal when viewed in a thousand-year context.

Because El Niño is superimposed on ongoing global warming, scientists warn it may supercharge temperature increases. Forecasts suggest temperatures could reach 1.7 to 1.8 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. These climatic shifts impact global weather patterns, such as altering storm tracks in the United States.