Uploaded October 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Meteorologist Chris Brierley on the Southern Oscillation, the background state of the Pacific Ocean and why it’s so hard to model El Niño.

Read the full text on our website: serious-science.org/el-nino-10272

'Because Indonesia is such an important part for where air is lifting up across the whole planet, you end up with changes in this circulation in the tropical Pacific having really global consequences. Say, in an El Niño year you will be having drought in Indonesia and floods in South America, but that'll spread out to Australia, and East Africa's going to be impacted in an El Niño year as well.'

Chris Brierley, PhD in Meteorology, University College London

Tropical Cyclone: serious-science.org/tropical-cyclone-9973
Climate Modelling: serious-science.org/climate-modelling-2-9001

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