NASA)
Predictions of future climate change require a clear and nuanced understanding of Earth’s past climate. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa oceanographers solved a controversy that has been debated in scientific literature for decades by fully reconciling climate and carbon cycle trends of the past 50 million years. Their research was published in
Throughout Earth’s history, global climate and the global carbon cycle have undergone significant changes, some of which challenge the current understanding of carbon cycle dynamics.
Less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere cools Earth and decreases weathering of rocks and minerals on land over long time scales. Less weathering should lead to a shallower calcite compensation depth (
DLNR)
El Niño events have long been perceived as a driver for low rainfall in the winter and spring in Hawaiʻi, creating a six-month wet-season drought. However, the connection between Hawaiʻi winter rainfall and El Niño is not as straightforward as previously thought, according to a recent study by researchers in the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (
SOEST).
Studies in the past decade suggested that there are at least two types of El Niño: the Eastern Pacific and Central Pacific, when the warmest pool of water is located in the eastern or central portions of the ocean basin, respectively. El Niño events usually begin in summer and last for about one year.