Indi Ocean El Nino

Subject: Geography/Environment

Context:

By studying microscopic zooplankton called foraminifera, researches had published a paper which first found evidence from the past of an Indian Ocean El Nino

Concept:

Findings:

• The report speaks about Last Glacial Maximum which existed about 19,000-21,000 years ago, in which ice-sheets covered North America and Eurasia, and sea-levels were much lower, with Adam’s Bridge exposed so that the Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka were contiguous.
• Researchers analysed simulations of this past climate and predicted that the ongoing climate change could reawaken an ancient climate pattern of the Indian Ocean.
• They find phenomenon which could be similar to the El Niño phenomenon of the Pacific Ocean bringing more frequent and devastating floods and drought to several densely-populated countries around the Indian Ocean region.
• If current warming trends continue, this new Indian Ocean El Niño could emerge as early as 2050. 
• Indian Ocean has the capacity to harbour much larger climate variability than observed during the last few decades or a century.
• Under present-day conditions, changes in the Indian Ocean Dipole and the El Niño–Southern Oscillation strongly affect Indian Monsoon variability from year to year.
• If the hypothesis emerges in the near future, it will pose another source of uncertainty in rainfall prediction and will likely amplify swings in monsoon rainfall.