Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Physics Athanasios Koutavas is a featured expert in the article “A tighter global warming-El Nino link” on Climate Spectator, a Business Spectator publication.
The natural climate cycle known as the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) would wreak havoc even if humans weren’t warming the planet. During its El Niño phase, the Americas get floods and torrential rains while Asia suffers drought. When it swings over to the La Niña phase, it’s the opposite. But humans are warming the planet, and a report published Thursday in Science says that both phases of ENSO have become more intense over the past century, suggesting that as warming continues, ENSO may become increasingly volatile.