Key mechanisms behind extreme weather patterns

Natural cycles such as El Niño affect sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean and beyond. Credit: NOAA

Scientist Alexey Fedorov of Yale University works to uncover mechanisms driving extreme weather patterns, focusing on the tropical Pacific and atmospheric circulation, with support from a grant from NOAA’s Climate Program Office. Fedorov worked with other researchers on two recent studies demonstrating new insights into climate patterns that drive extreme weather and can help improve predictions. One study, in the Journal of Climate, examines El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a Pacific-based climate pattern affecting global weather. Fedorov and other Yale scientists identified changes in the size and shape of wind patterns in the tropical Pacific that play a major role in intensifying ENSO with warmer atmospheric temperatures.