Scientists Detect Huge Structure Under Ocean Fueling the Deadly Upcoming El Nino

A Kelvin wave has been identified as the undersea structure driving this year’s El Niño weather pattern. The wave carries a large pool of warm water in the Pacific with temperatures up to 13.5 degrees Fahrenheit above average. Kelvin waves are powered by sudden changes in wind force, especially westerly bursts that push warm water from the west Pacific toward the east. This wind-driven shift stretches the warm water farther across the ocean, creating El Niño conditions that disrupt global weather. The strength of the Kelvin wave can indicate how severe the warming period may become. The current wave is comparable to the 1997 event, which preceded a super El Niño. Super El Niños involve Pacific surface temperatures at least 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above the long-term average and have historically caused major droughts, famines, and disease outbreaks.

"Called a Kelvin wave, scientists have identified a massive pool of warm water in the Pacific carrying temperatures up to 13.5 degrees Fahrenheit above average in similar parts of the ocean. As the Wall Street Journal notes, that's a major heat wave as far as the ocean is concerned, as deep water temperature patterns take much longer to shift than they would on land."

"Kelvin waves are fueled by abrupt changes in wind force, such as the westerly bursts that push the superheated waters from the west Pacific to the east. That shift in wind forces a blob of warm water to stretch much farther into the Pacific than it might otherwise, creating the El Niño conditions that roil weather patterns around the world."

""The current Kelvin wave is impressive and, by some measures we look at, it is rivaling the one we saw in 1997," Michelle L'Heureux, a researcher with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center told the WSJ."

"That event precipitated one of six recorded "super El Niños," which happens when ocean surface temperatures in the Pacific rise a minimum of 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above the long-term average. The first super El Niño on record happened in 1877, a cataclysmic event which resulted in widespread droughts and famines that killed an estimated 50 million people across the world."

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