Drought-hit Panama Canal to restrict access for one year

The drought-hit Panama Canal will maintain restrictions on the passage of ships for one year, a measure that has already led to a marine traffic jam as boats line up to enter the waterway linking two oceans.

Q&A: What's causing the severe Midwestern drought?

This summer, global temperatures soared on July 4, reflecting one of the hottest days recorded on Earth, according to climate data from the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Prediction. Average global temperatures were ...

What is making 2023 likely the hottest year recorded

Human-made climate change is supercharging natural weather phenomena to drive heatwaves roasting Asia, Europe and North America that could make 2023 the hottest year since records began, scientists say.

UN warns world to prepare for El Nino impact

The United Nations on Tuesday warned the world to prepare for the effects of El Nino, saying the weather phenomenon which triggers higher global temperatures is set to persist throughout 2023.

Japan reports warmest spring on record

Japan experienced its warmest spring on record this year, the national weather agency said Thursday, as greenhouse gasses and El Nino send temperatures soaring worldwide.

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El Niño-Southern Oscillation

El Niño-Southern Oscillation (abbrieviated as ENSO and commonly called simply El Niño), is an intensification of monthly or seasonal fluctuations in the air pressure difference between Tahiti and Darwin, Australia caused by warming of surface waters of the tropical Eastern Pacific Ocean that occurs every three to eight years. The name is from the Spanish for "the little boy", refers to the Christ child, because the phenomenon is usually noticed around Christmas in the Pacific near South America. A period of cooling in the tropical Pacific is the opposite extreme in the natural ENSO cycle and is called La Niña.

The mechanisms that sustain the El Niño - La Nina cycle remain a matter of research, but El Nino is associated with disruption of Pacific trade winds and a stronger than usual so-called Madden-Julian oscillation, which is the frequent and regularly occurring eastward progression of tropical rainfall over the Pacific.

El Niño is associated with floods, droughts and is linked to other weather disturbances in many locations around the world. El Niño's effects in the Atlantic Ocean lag behind those in the Pacific by 12 to 18 months. Developing countries dependent upon agricultural and fishing are especially affected. But El Niño's effects on weather vary with each event, and ENSO's intensity or frequency may change as a result of global warming. Research suggests that treating ocean warming which occurs in the eastern tropical Pacific separately from that of the central tropical Pacific may help explain some of these variations.

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