The circulation of the atmosphere is characterized by features such as polar fronts, mid-latitude jet streams (fast-flowing narrow air currents) and a tropical meridional (north–south) overturning ...

El Niño and La Niña are climate phenomena that are generally associated with wetter and drier winter conditions in the Southwestern United States, respectively. In 2023, however, a La Niña year proved ...

High above our heads and unseen to the naked eye, rivers of water vapor flow through the atmosphere. These "atmospheric rivers" are crucial to the global water cycle. Astonishingly, they have the ...

One of the big contributors to the record-breaking global temperatures over the past year – El Nino – is nearly gone, and its opposite, La Nina, is on the way. Whether that’s a relief or not depends ...

During a La Niña, a counterpart to the El Niño weather pattern, drier than normal conditions are to be expected. But 2023, a La Niña year, turned out to be California’s 10th-wettest year on record.

Scientists may have to rethink the relationship between the ocean's circulation and its long-term capacity to store carbon, new research suggests. As the ocean gets weaker, it could release more ...