A rapid shift in the Earth's climate that occurred more than 250 million years ago caused a devastating mass extinction. Scientists say "mega-El Niños" played a big part by helping trigger wild shifts in weather patterns.
What's happening?
The first El Niño event that was scientifically observed and reported on from start to finish happened in 1997-1998. Still, the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) was first identified in the early 1900s. ENSO is a "large-scale seesaw" in pressure and sea-surface temperatures in the equatorial region of the Pacific Ocean.
El Niño is one of the three ENSO phases and features unusually warm weather in the eastern Pacific along the west coast of South America. "Mega-El Niños" many years ago may have helped bring about the largest extinction in our planet's history.
About 252 million years ago, the Permian-Triassic extinction event devastated most of the life forms on land and in the oceans. According to a study published in Science, the warming climate during that period alone can't explain the desolation. The study concluded that planet-warming gases not only warm our world but also increase the variability of weather and climate. The wild weather swings that result make it harder for life on Earth to survive.
"While the oceans were initially shielded from the temperature rises, the mega-El Niños caused temperatures on land to exceed most species' thermal tolerances at rates so rapid that they could not adapt in time," said China University of Geoscience professor Yadong Sun, co-lead author of the study, per Phys.org. "Only species that could migrate quickly could survive, and there weren't many plants or animals that could do that."
Why are strong El Niños important?
Current El Niños generally last one to two years, much shorter than the El Niños of the distant past. Scientists have discovered that our warming world is influencing the formation of El Niños. Warming has triggered more frequent and extreme El Niño events. El Niños increase the risk of extreme weather. El Niños supercharged by a warming atmosphere fuel record temperatures and extreme weather events.
There were food shortages and at least 16 tropical cyclones during the strong 2015-2016 El Niño. Scientists have warned that El Niños could accelerate the melting of Indonesia's "Eternity Glaciers."
What's being done about the threat of future stronger El Niños?
El Niños have been occurring naturally for millions of years, but cooling our planet is critical to alleviating the impacts of these events and preventing them from getting more intense. Reducing the heat-trapping gases released into the atmosphere by doing things like choosing low-impact travel options and modernizing your home to make it less reliant on dirty energy sources can help.
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