A new paper, published on the 27th of August, reconstructed 1000 years of sea surface temperatures using information stored in coral skeletons from the Galápagos islands. The resulting data indicates that strong El Niño events are happening more often as the planet heats up because of human-caused climate change. Climate correspondent Simon Clark breaks down what an El Niño is, and what effects we might experience now that this year’s cycle is set to be the most extreme on record.
– Presented by Simon Clark
– Written, Edited, & Produced by Tristan Sharman
– Co-produced by Maren Hunsberger and Simon Clark
– Stock footage from Getty Images / rawheadrex / Bilanol / Logist Tehnik / RahulDsilva / John Mcbride / theartofocean
– Chart images courtesy of Zeke Hausfather: https://dashboard.theclimatebrink.com/#enso
From Cole, J. E. et al. (2026). Recent strengthening of eastern Pacific ENSO in the last millennium paleorecord. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ady2660.
