A new Yale study suggests that aerosols in the atmosphere may be temporarily holding down ocean temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific.
The findings, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, are an indication that the surprisingly modest warming observed in the tropical Pacific in recent decades may be short-lived, with more dramatic changes yet to come. The results also may help climate scientists make better predictions for how global warming will affect weather patterns, ecosystems, and storm impacts throughout the Pacific rim.
“Understanding how the tropics are changing due to global warming is an important task for scientists to tackle because this region is a key driver of weather and climate events around the globe,” said first author Ulla Heede, a graduate student in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences at Yale.
Read more at: Yale University
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