https://www.science.org/content/article/remote-pacific-island-clues-el-ninos-future-preserved-ancient-reefs By PAUL VOOSEN , Science.  Excerpt: ...The El Niño event, now at its peak, is driving weather extremes not just in Vanuatu, but all over the planet. Drought has struck Australia, as well as the Amazon, where intolerably hot waters have suffocated endangered pink dolphins. Rains have drenched Peru, spreading dengue, while warm waters intruding near its coast have disrupted the world’s largest anchovy fishery and forced the nation to cancel a lucrative fishing season. Those same warm waters accelerated Hurricane Otis, which devastated Acapulco and Mexico’s Pacific coast in October 2023. The effects have been truly global: By suppressing the Pacific’s ability to absorb heat from the atmosphere, El Niño helped make 2023 the  hottest year in history  by a huge margin. ... TWENTY THOUSAND YEARS AGO , at the peak of the last ice age, Earth was  6°C cooler than today ....

https://www.science.org/content/article/even-warmer-expected-2023-was-hottest-year-record By PAUL VOOSEN , Science.  Excerpt: ...2023 was the hottest year in human history. Average surface temperatures rose nearly 0.2°C above the previous record, set in 2016, to 1.48°C over preindustrial levels, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service  reported today . ...Humanity’s unabated burning of fossil fuels is the dominant driver of the long-term trend, but it is insufficient to explain 2023’s sudden spike, says Michael Diamond, an atmospheric scientist at Florida State University. ...One exacerbating factor was the end of a La Niña climate pattern, which from 2020 to 2022 stirred up an increased amount of deep cold water in the eastern Pacific Ocean that absorbed heat and suppressed global temperatures. In 2023, the pattern flipped into an El Niño event, which blanketed the equatorial Pacific with warm waters and began to boost global temperatures. ...But the flip is no...

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/apr/08/headed-off-the-charts-worlds-ocean-surface-temperature-hits-record-high By Graham Readfearn , The Guardian.  Excerpt: The temperature of the world’s ocean surface has hit an all-time high since satellite records began, leading to marine heatwaves around the globe, according to US government data. Climate scientists said preliminary data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa)  showed the average temperature at the ocean’s surface has been at 21.1C since  the start of April – beating the previous high of 21C set in 2016. ...Three years of  La Niña  conditions across the vast tropical Pacific have helped suppress temperatures and dampened the effect of rising greenhouse gas emissions. But scientists said heat was now rising to the ocean surface, pointing to a potential El Niño pattern in the tropical Pacific later this year that can increase the risk of extreme weather conditions and furth...

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/16/climate/argentina-drought.html By  Henry Fountain , The New York Times.  Excerpt: Lack of rainfall that caused severe drought in Argentina and Uruguay last year was not made more likely by climate change, scientists said Thursday. But global warming was a factor in extreme heat experienced in both countries that made the drought worse, they said. The researchers, part of a loose-knit group called  World Weather Attribution  that studies recent extreme weather for signs of the influence of climate change, said that the rainfall shortage was a result of natural climate variability. Specifically, they said, the presence of La Niña, a climate pattern linked to below-normal sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific that influences weather around the world, most likely affected precipitation. La Niña usually occurs once every three to five years, often alternating with El Niño, which is linked to above-normal sea temperatures. But La Niña c...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/01/us-new-mexico-drought-wildfire-southwest By Gabrielle Canon , The Guardian.  Excerpt: A million acres have already burned across the country already, with La Niña bringing more severe dry climate. ...“Climate change is taking a situation that would be bad for us normally,” says Gregg Garffin, a climatologist at the University of Arizona, “and turning the dial up.” Once confined to specific times of year, wildfire conditions are stretching across more months, and will likely continue until the region gets additional rain.…

https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/enso/september-2020-enso-update-la-niña-here Source: By:  Emily Becke r, NOAA.  Excerpt: La Niña conditions were  present in August , and there’s a 75% chance they’ll hang around through the winter. NOAA has issued a  La Niña Advisory . ...La Niña’s altered atmospheric circulation over the Pacific Ocean affects global weather and climate. ...La Niña can make certain outcomes more likely. This includes more rain than average through Indonesia, cooler and wetter weather in southern Africa, and drier weather in southeastern China, among other impacts. ...One important global impact of La Niña is its effect on the  Atlantic hurricane season . La Niña reduces wind shear—the change in winds between the surface and the upper levels of the atmosphere— allowing hurricanes to grow . The likelihood of La Niña was factored into NOAA’s August  outlook for the Atlantic hurricane season , which favored an “extremely active” s...

https://eos.org/research-spotlights/the-power-of-water-wind-and-solar-and-nothing-else Source:   By Sarah Witman, Eos/AGU Excerpt: From more frequent wildfires to devastating hurricanes to persistent droughts, we are already seeing the effects of climate change. It’s not just the planet that’s at risk: Air pollution causes 4–7 million human deaths each year, and energy security is a concern as our population grows. Addressing these challenges will require a collective effort by individuals, communities, businesses, nonprofits, and policy makers around the world, not to mention a road map to guide these disparate parties. Here Jacobson presents just such a road map. It outlines how the 139 countries that together contribute 99% of all global emissions can transition to 80% clean, renewable energy (water, wind, and solar) by 2030 and to 100% by 2050. By 2050, everything—transportation, agriculture, forestry, fishing, heating, cooling, and all industries—would run on electricity. ...

https://www.climate.gov/enso Source:   National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) For Investigation:  6.3, 9.2, 9.3