El Niño
El Niño typically brings warmer, drier atmospheric conditions and reduced cloud cover, which increase the risk of droughts, bushfires and coral bleaching.
#What is El Niño?
El Niño is a climate phenomenon characterised by the periodic warming of sea surface temperatures across the Pacific Ocean.
During an El Niño event, the trade winds, which usually blow from east to west along the equator, weaken or reverse displacing warm waters eastwards that are typically confined to the western Pacific Ocean. This can greatly alter the atmosphere and have significant impacts on weather and climate around the world.
El Niño typically occurs every two to seven years, and can be relatively difficult to predict. El Niño means 'the little boy' in Spanish, first named in the 1600's by Spanish fishermen who noticed unusually warm waters around the end of December.
#How El Niño impacts the Great Barrier Reef
Higher than average ocean temperatures can cause heat stress for corals, which can lead to mass coral bleaching events.
#How can we protect the Reef during marine heatwaves?
We're pioneering cutting-edge technology and delivering breakthroughs in marine and terrestrial restoration to help protect and restore coral reefs.
We're investigating a toolkit of solutions including:
Heat-tolerant corals that can better cope with higher water temperatures.
Freezing corals so we can grow corals outside of limited natural reproduction windows.
Cooling and shading corals to reduce heat and light stress.
Stabilising damaged reef surfaces where corals have turned into rubble.
#El Niño FAQs
What is El Niño?
El Niño is a climate phenomenon characterised by the periodic warming of sea surface temperatures across the Pacific Ocean. During an El Niño event, the trade winds that usually blow east to west along the equator weaken or reverse, pushing warm water eastwards. This can significantly alter the atmosphere and affect weather and climate around the world, typically bringing warmer, drier conditions and reduced cloud cover.
How often does El Niño occur?
El Niño typically occurs every two to seven years and can be relatively difficult to predict.
What does El Niño mean for Australia's weather?
El Niño typically brings warmer, drier atmospheric conditions and reduced cloud cover across much of Australia, which increases the risk of droughts, bushfires and marine heatwaves.
How does El Niño affect the Great Barrier Reef?
El Niño summers are a serious concern for the health of the Great Barrier Reef. El Niño brings hotter, drier conditions and raises the risk of marine heatwaves. Higher than average ocean temperatures can cause heat stress for corals, which can lead to mass coral bleaching events.
Does El Niño cause coral bleaching?
El Niño doesn't directly cause coral bleaching, but the higher ocean temperatures and marine heatwaves associated with El Niño increase the risk of it. When corals are exposed to prolonged heat stress they can bleach, which is why El Niño summers raise concern for the Great Barrier Reef.
#Repair a Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is under more pressure than ever. Rising temperatures, cyclones, and compounding threats are pushing it to its limits but proven solutions are already working in the water. Your donation today helps scale them further, faster.