At the 11 minute mark, she says that Climate Change is not natural because it "only gets warmer and warmer..." owing to the world being pushed out of temperature equilibrium. I just watched another YT video on "that one time that Earth was a snowball for 100 million years". This leads me to wonder, what if we are wrong about Climate Change? During my years working on my graduate degree I came across a lot of information on ice cores that show that the world has been hotter and much colder in its past. What if Climate Change is actually natural, a cycle, yet the frequency is so low that it appears to be non-repeating? Why is the ubiquitous response to questions like this one to simply write it off as heresy?
@@roblowery3188this is where I think I land on climate discussion, I want to believe we are the problem and we can fix it, if we fix our attitudes But. I’m at the thought of being convinced we encourage these natural cycles to accelerate, I’m no climate denier!!!!
@@oleonard7319 What if the question actually got taken seriously? BTW I'm a high-school teacher. Never really been in the energy industry. Makes sense to think that.
8:53 actually during a la Nina event, the cold underwater swells up and brings a lot of nutrients for the fish and la Nina seasons give good fish compared to el nino situation when the same is a bit warmer than usual, that's how they noticed it.
I live in Lima Peru. We are in winter, we should have temps of 12C, but with El Niño we are having a small summer, 20C, this is the warmest winter i can remember. The impact on agriculture is terrible, as crops fail due to the changing conditions. I know that it is a cycle, but this year has been off the charts. I cannot imagine the drop in temps with La Niña that is to come. Loved the explanation, and yes, the incas and preinca civilizations knew about this phenomenon and adapted accordingly.
The thing that tells me that Dr. Tyson is a scientist, beyond his degrees and his job description, is that he is never shy about saying "I don't know, so I'm going to ask someone who does." That's science -- knowing what you know, and also knowing what you don't know. I try to do this in my life, asking people who know without letting my ego get in the way of learning. If nothing else, that is what I have learned from people like Sagan and Tyson.
For those interested in how the Peruvians discovered El Niño effect, it was fisherman who noticed that at certain period fishing was poor and water was warmer than usual. Rainfall on the Peruvian coast is basically nonexistent, it almost never rains and then once in a blue moon it floods.
I live in Australia, and I was a teenager during the 90s when there was a strong el Nino. We had water restrictions in place and there was a drought. It was pretty severe.
The 1997-98 El Niño was probably by far the worst we’ve had since, especially for us here in the Western Pacific islands (Mariånas islands) Guam🇬🇺 back in 97’ Super-Typhoon Paka ravaged the Mariånas islands, it was a Cat5 storm with winds up to 150-180 mph but when the storm passed directly over the island of Guam the “eye wall” of the storm (which is the strongest part of the storm) winds were estimated around 200mph. The damage was severe, it knocked out the power grid for almost a year on the island🥵 many lost their homes, but to everyone’s surprise, there was little to no casualties. This year in June Guam was hit yet again by a Cat4 storm (Typhoon Mawar) the damage wasn’t as bad as Paka but it was enough that we’re still trying to slowly recover.
Very informative. Love these types of explainers. What’s also very interesting about El Niño is it’s ability to effect other oscillations such as El Niño promoting rising air over the East Pacific which than causes sinking air and hinders rainfall in the Indonesia and Australia region but also causes a positive Indian Ocean Dipole which itself can affect climate in many parts of the world. Really shows how connected natural phenomena are on Earth but also causing a delicate balance overall for the past 10,000 years that now our species is throwing out of whack. But learning about the nature of Earth is always so fascinating to me and how we as Humans can mitigate our impacts. Yes Earth’s natural variability can have positives and negatives itself, but those positives are crucial for the beauty we see on our planet today and must be protected. Wether that’s the biology, ecology, or the climatology of our world.
In 1997, I moved to the US west coast in Sept from India. It was a wet monsoon from June to Aug and then due to strong El nino it rained from sept to March of 1998 in the west coast of the US. That's when I heard this term and experienced it personally. In Indian monsoon, el nino brings less rain , there is also Indian Ocean dipole temperature that increases or reduces the impact of El nino on Indian monsoon rains as heard from meteorological press releases.
The Incas knew about it well before the Spanish invasion. They even monitored the seas for a particular sea shell (warmer water animal) that would start to show up in Ecuador at the start of the El Niño.
I live in Peru, we're supposed to be in WINTER, but just now, last week of August (one month before spring) it's starting to get slightly cold. El niño temperatures basically pushed away the whole usual behavior of the weather, no fresher days in fall starting in March, no cold days until this very last week, and in Lima there has been very few days of gray skies. I mention this because Lima is called "the gray city", in the six years I've lived here, blue skies are like a wonder you see in November, maybe even December until March where it starts getting so cloudy, a hint of blue is actually celebrated 😅. Sooo... I'm from the Caribbean, so I love my sunlight and clear skies, but it has been very interesting to live through, also as an ecology graduate.
@@adpirtle That's cool and all. So.. you've put in your will that your estate will go to fighting climate change effectively after you're gone, because you have a conscience?
I'm Australian and the bushfires have already started. Lots of evacuations going on in some parts. Other parts haven't yet recovered from the floods. The frustrating thing is, we all know what is happening but there are still politicians arguing over whether climate change is real so they do nothing to prepare. I don't really care if they do or don't believe it; we have clear patterns of climate behaviour and basically no action plan. Insurance companies are starting to refuse to cover houses in certain areas for flood cover, guarantee they will start refusing to cover fire as well if they haven't already.
I live in Peru 🇵🇪 and all jokes aside el Niño destroys houses, neighborhoods and kills many many people. Scary to hear that its gonna be bad this year 😰
What I read once was that the way they first noticed in Peru was because the el niño brought a lot of fish to the coast, so they noticed the diference in the amount of fish and fishermen gave thanks to el niño jesus for the fishes , and hence the name.
I think since it is oscillating with the long term moving average which makes it looks like cyclical, then- it is safe to consider that it has its own Ebb and Flow. Thus, human race intercepting with it can be disastrous. Even if we get to a point that we can alter it, we shouldn't. Thank you for another wonderful episode Neil and Chuck! And to Katharine!
I think in most cases, humans shouldn't try to interfere with nature. At least in broad terms. No need to get pedantic about, you know, eye glasses or medicine. I'm talking about nature in terms of the ecosystem that sustains us. Nature developed a working system long before we got here. We humans, we like to tinker, and we think that whatever problem we tinker ourselves into, we can tinker ourselves out of. But the cause of death for our species will almost certainly read "Unintended consequences". Our engineering skills far outstrip our wisdom, which makes us a danger to ourselves and every species around us. We have to stop trying to dominate nature, and start really living in concert with it.
We live in a society that has forced us to be dependant on Fossile Fuels. They're doing more than you are going "Well Neil isn't doing anything so neither should I." Raising awareness is better than you cry posting about how they're not doing enough so neither should you.
With respect to the El Nino pattern it was noticed because of the fish that followed the cold currents and would leave the area when El Nino came and fishing would suck all of a sudden. They noticed it alright.
Shouldn’t it be backwards? El Niño happens when energy from the sea transfers into the atmosphere. Meaning the area in the sea gets colder, so if the fish follow cold currents wouldn’t El Niño bring more fish?
El Niño, a periodic climate phenomenon characterized by the warming of ocean waters in the central and eastern Pacific, has been linked to extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, and hurricanes across the globe. These weather changes, compounded by climate change, significantly impact human lives by threatening food security, displacing communities, and straining infrastructure. Interestingly, these terrestrial phenomena also have cosmic implications, as they can affect astronomical observations and satellite operations by altering atmospheric conditions. Given the profound impact that climate phenomena like El Niño can have both on Earth and in space, how might advancements in astrophysics and climate science help us better predict and mitigate the effects of these events on our interconnected systems?
Neil is so f'ing smart in all the ways that matter. This is coming from a guy with 2 bachelors, a masters, and a PhD in neuroscience. I always feel like he's a ahead of everyone, but slowing down to keep it real and interesting.
So, Predators visit Earth hunting during El Niño outbursts - it’s clearly referenced in the movies!! Even the rise in criminality!! Great video as always, thanks for the great info! I had a very different idea about that phenomenon.
We actually had an unusually wet summer here in Belgium and south of Europe saw extremely dry weather with forestfires left right and center. It's definitely too late for adressing some really bad consequences of our handy work, but that doesn't mean we don't have to put it in a higher gear now that we still can before our economy falls.
not much of a different summer here in the netherlands.. it was hotter in spain.. but those wildfires will not come due to climate change.. hot weater will not ignite fire in the forest.. its not possible.
I live in Lima, Peru and El Niño is very bad here. We have floods all over, the rivers are too loaded and take houses. There are also huaycos, which are rain with rocks and mud and people die. When it first started El Niño or at least we were aware and named it, I remember I planned to go to the North and I reserved a hotel on the beach. By the time I got there, the hotel had been wiped off and no longer existed.
From Wikipedia: "An early recorded mention of the term "El Niño" to refer to climate occurred in 1892, when Captain Camilo Carrillo told the geographical society congress in Lima that Peruvian sailors named the warm south-flowing current "El Niño" because it was most noticeable around Christmas.[42] "
Explains why there is so little snow blizzards in January-February here around Utah and these regions I live in. My income usually increases during heavy snowstorms.
As a Canadian scientist I would like to hear her opinion on carbon tax. Our tax level increases every year and yet I still see a large percentage of gas guzzling pick ups on the road even though a lot of the same people complain about the carbon tax. Is this the best solution to fighting climate change?
Great segment. Your guest is every personable and she'd have been on of my favorite professors. Great questions back and forth. I would not have to known to ponder the points about where the climate shifts help fish migrate, or any of the religous points that relate to the name of the phenomnenon.
So . . . What about Kudzu vine? I live in "little river city" in Massachusetts and about 5years ago, I noticed that a lot of the lush greenery in/on! The trees . . . AND on their trunks, AND on fences, AND on telephone poles, ETC . . . Pine trees too!! I researched and "discovered" Kudzu!! Lately I've noticed lots and lots and lots . . . Of whole sections of DEAD trees . . I imagine when there aren't any trees, bushes etc left it will impact the environment!?!?
I think one answer is that we need to plant about a billion or more trees around the world. That way, we help to bring Carbon Dioxide emissions somewhat under control.
hi, spanish guy here. "Christ child" is translated as "el niño jesús", "el niño" means just "the kid" (or "the child"). I understand the christmas reference, but the literal translation is what it is
it took me a while to find the answer to my el nino / la nina question, which is that they both hit their peak during the northern hemisphere winter, IE el nino temperatures hit their maximum during winter and la nina temperatures hit their minimum during winter as well, so typically during our northern hemisphere summer (vacation time) neither will have much effect unless one of them lasts exceptionally long which can happen but is pretty rare. If I understand correctly, which is a big "if" !!!
NGL This year, there's an intense heat that can't be endured, even indoors. The air is thick and warm, which makes the feeling of daytime heat even more suffocating.
So we know that the trends of el Niño and of la Niña is moving towards higher temperature generally, but we only have been tracking it for about 70 years, is there any record of whether this trend is only a recent development, happened since a longer time ago or on whether this entire trend has also fluctuated up and down over the centuries ?
It likely has been happening for centuries. We had El Niños in the 1800s. What’s happening is with Humans causing Global Warming, we are warming the oceans so El Niño, which is natural, is likely exasperating Anthropogenic Warming. So natural oscillations like ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation) could make the effects of Climate Change even worse. It can also mild down the effects of Global Warming during a a cool phase of the oscillation such La Niña or a negative AMO (Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation). It’s important to note that in many cases natural variability can make extreme weather caused by anthropogenic warming more extreme and or the anthropogenic signal can be exaggerated by natural variability.
@@PremierCCGuyMMXVI In the video It was mentioned that the fenomenon, althougth in a primitive fashion, was already known in the 1500s if not before, what I am furious about Is if the currentlly known upward trend of the raising of average temperature has been Always going upward since centuries ago, nonwithstanding the current time acceleration, or if the trend has been ever going downward. And so I am curious if that has ever been the case, if the current raising trend May eventually reverse course on its own more or lessi abrubtlly, and if It does over how Ling of a time It would happen
@@davidecolucci6260 well, the Global Oceans, including Sea Surface Temperatures in the Niño 3.4 Box have been getting warmer overall. Yes we have La Niña and El Niño shifts, but the overall average has gotten warmer.
@@PremierCCGuyMMXVI recently(in the last century or 2) yes, but what about before that ? do we know if there is a long term cycle of raising on lowering temperature or if it goes only upward ? and if it reverts, will it take the same time or will it go faster ?
@@davidecolucci6260 well considering we knew about it since the 1500s, id say the ENSO has been going on for at least the past 10,000 years as that’s when the modern ocean and wind currents were established as Earth exited the last glacial period
Three intelligent people talking as if they were in the school playground. A number if podcast presentations are conducted in this rather Simpleton manner. There are a few presenters who share what they have to say in a concise and convincing format.
Hey Neil just wanna say love your show the cosmos make it very entertaining to learn and your talks are great awesome person please make more cosmos episodes lol💪💙
