el nino – sunshine hours

Warming Causes CO2

Published on July 15, 2017 by sunshinehours13 Comments

Warming Oceans = More CO2

“Scientists noted that emissions tend to rise more quickly during an El Niño weather pattern. The El Niño phenomenon, which was unusually strong in 2015-16, warms the Pacific Ocean, bringing heavy rains and droughts to different parts of the world. Scientists say the increase in sea surface temperatures that occurs during an El Niño causes less carbon dioxide to be dissolved in the oceans and, as a result, more accumulates in the atmosphere. […]

Stephen A. Montzka, a NOAA research chemist who worked on the index, said the spike between 2015 and 2016 — the largest incremental increase in greenhouse gases since 1988 — was largely caused by El Niño. The jump between 1987 and 1988, which came in at a slightly higher 2.8 percent, was also linked to an El Niño.”

https://www.thegwpf.com/strong-el-nino-causes-spike-in-co2-emissions-noaa-reports/

Starfish Return – Warmer Temperatures To Blame?

Published on May 9, 2016May 9, 2016 by sunshinehours16 Comments

Remember this headline:

Warming Temperatures Are Killing Millions of Starfish

Well …. now there is a new one … and it all happened during an El Nino when ocean temperatures were really high.

Starfish babies return in droves to Oregon and California after massive die-off

Droves of baby starfish are returning to Oregon and Northern California’s shores after a wasting disease decimated whole populations of the creatures over the past two years along the West Coast.

Data collected by Oregon State University researchers shows an unprecedented number of baby starfish, or sea stars, survived the summer and winter of 2015, the Eureka Times Standard reported Saturday.

“When we looked at the settlement of the larval sea stars on rocks in 2014 during the epidemic, it was the same or maybe even a bit lower than previous years,” Oregon State University marine biology professor Bruce Menge said in a statement.

“But a few months later, the number of juveniles was off the charts — higher than we’d ever seen — as much as 300 times normal.”

The cause of the massive outbreak remains unclear. Some have hypothesized it to be abnormally warm waters in the Pacific Ocean, which have wreaked havoc on marine ecosystems for the past two years.

Humboldt State University Marine Lab Director Brian Tissot disagrees with that hypothesis since the virus spread during colder months and didn’t expand as much during the abnormally warm 2015.

“There is no clear environmental cue,”

Could 2016/2017 Be The Strongest La Niña On Record?

Published on April 18, 2016April 18, 2016 by sunshinehours16 Comments

It is not uncommon for a La Nina to follow an El Nino.

SCRIPPS issues forecasts. Joe Bastardi points out they are not always right, but if they are right this time, he says:

Its forecast for this event, if real, would be spectacular. Not only would it be the biggest El Niño to La Niñas transition, but the strongest La Niña on record.

NOAA is predicting La Nina here.

The global effects of La Nina:

NASA Predicts: ‘there are no guarantees’

Published on January 24, 2016 by sunshinehours11 Comment

I was quite sure NASA knew exactly what was going to happen. Don’t they model the climate? Don’t they use those models to ask for big grants. Now they are saying that literally anything could happen. Then what use are they?

‘If past events help predict future ones, then we have probably reached the peak of the 2015–2016 El Niño,’ the space agency said.

‘Warmer-than-average waters in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean should start to cool off and shift westward.

‘By summer, the tropical Pacific might be back in a neutral state or La Niña cooling could kick in, as it did after major El Niños of the past.

‘But will the ocean respond in 2016 the way it did in 1998 and 1983? Given that the planet is hotter than at any time in the past 135 years, there are no guarantees.’