Galápagos corals show El Niño events are more extreme now than in past 1,000 years – here’s how my team made the discovery

Scientists went to the heart of the El Niño pattern to learn from living and fossil corals. The results show El Niño’s intensifying coincides with global warming.

By: Julia Cole, University of Michigan, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: August 27, 2026

Words: 1,286

Last Updated: 1 month, 2 weeks ago

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By Julia Cole, University of Michigan

Temperatures have warmed dramatically across the equatorial Pacific Ocean in 2026, signaling the onset of a strong and potentially historic El Niño. These events can affect weather around the world, and the intensity of recent El Niño events is raising alarm that, as global temperatures rise, they are becoming stronger and more destructive.

To understand how these climate patterns are changing, we need to understand what …

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