Washington

A new study in the journal Science suggests that El Niño events have grown more intense as human-caused warming has raised global temperatures, though outside researchers differ over how conclusively the available evidence establishes the trend.

The study estimates that El Niño events are more than 36% stronger than before industrialisation, with a 16% increase over the past four decades. Its authors used measurements from 29 coral fossils in the Galápagos to reconstruct ocean conditions across roughly 900 years.

El Niño is a periodic warming of the equatorial Pacific that can disrupt weather worldwide, increasing the risk of heat, flooding and drought in different regions. A current event is already unusually strong on the standard ocean-temperature measure, according to Columbia University’s tracker cited by AP.

The study’s conclusions are disputed by some outside scientists, who argue that parts of the coral record conflict with more recent observations. The useful takeaway is not a settled forecast for every event, but stronger evidence that warming may amplify a major source of global climate variability — a question that remains under active scientific scrutiny.