@dw.science: Corals may house one of the clearest records yet of how climate change is affecting El Niño. For decades, scientists have debated whether a warming world would make El Niño more intense. Using chemical clues preserved in living and fossil corals from the Galápagos, researchers reconstructed about 1,000 years of ocean history and found that El Niño variability in the eastern Pacific has been markedly stronger in recent decades than at any point in their preindustrial record. The study doesn't prove climate change is the cause. But the results suggest today's strongest El Niño events may not simply be part of natural variability. And that matters because El Niño can reshape weather patterns around the globe, influencing droughts, floods, wildfires and food systems far beyond the Pacific. Author: Esteban Pardo Study: Cole, J. E., et al. "Recent strengthening of eastern Pacific ENSO in the last millennium paleorecord." Science (2026) #dwscience #climatechange #elnino #oceanscience

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Monday 14 September 2026 13:00:25 GMT