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Temperatures are expected to rise in large parts of the world after the El Niño weather pattern emerged in the Pacific for the first time in seven years, the World Meteorological Organization said on Tuesday.
El Niño, a warming of water surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean, is linked to extreme weather conditions, from tropical cyclones to heavy rains and severe droughts.
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The world's hottest year on record, 2016, coincided with a strong El Niño — although experts say climate change fueled extreme temperatures even in years without the phenomenon.
Even that record could soon be broken, according to the WMO.
The organization said in May that there is a strong likelihood that at least one of the next five years, and the five-year period as a whole, will be the hottest on record due to El Niño and anthropogenic global warming.
“Saying whether it will be this year or next is difficult,” Wilfran Moufouma Okia, head of the WMO’s Regional Climate Forecast Service, told reporters in Geneva.
“What we do know is that in the next five years we will probably have one of the hottest years on record.”
The World Health Organization said last month it was preparing for an increase in the spread of viral diseases such as dengue, Zika and chikungunya linked to El Niño.
“We can even expect an increase in infectious diseases because of the temperature,” Maria Neira, director of Environment, Climate Change and Health at the WHO, told reporters.
During El Niño, winds blowing west along the Equator decrease and warm water is pushed east, creating warmer temperatures at the ocean surface.
The phenomenon occurs on average every two to seven years, and can last from nine to 12 months, according to the WMO.
Source: Notícias Agrícolas
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