Birdbrained Science: El Niño and you

We haven’t discovered the solution to climate change yet, but we’re pretty sure we’re getting warmer. At least, our oceans are. As greenhouse gas emissions continue to trap heat in Earth’s climate system, our oceans have absorbed much of the excess heat. Every few years, however, a natural climate phenomenon called El Niño shifts the distribution of heat, with impacts felt around the world. As a consequence of climate change amping up the cycle’s worst effects, El Niño has taken over our newsfeed: scientists warn about it, politicians argue about it and the global community braces for it. But what is El Niño? And what do you need to know? To begin, El Niño was first christened by Peruvian fishermen in the 1600s when they noticed periods of unusually warm water in the Pacific Ocean. In full, they named it El Niño de Navidad, or “the Christ Child,” due to it falling around Christmas time. El Niño itself is a natural weather pattern that occurs roughly every two to seven years.

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