Over the past six decades, the El Nino phenomenon has occurred 20 times, and an expert says the one happening right now is the strongest of them all.
Climatologist and oceanographer Prof Dr Fredolin Tangang of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia believes that this year’s El Nino is more extreme that ones in 1982/83 and 1997/98, which were considered ‘severe’.
However, according to him, there is no strong evidence to suggest that the heatwave was linked to global warming.
“There is no conclusive evidence that the occurrence of El Nino (frequency and intensity) is influenced by climate change,” Tangang told Bernama.
Tangang had also served as vice-chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) — United Nations agency — from 2008 to 2015.
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The good news was that the current El Nino was now in its final stretch, he said, adding that the Pacific Ocean conditions would return to neutral by next month.
Last week a Malaysian academician said that the El Nino phenomenon would likely occur more often in the future; from cycles of four to seven years to every two years.
According to University Malaysia Pahang (UMP) Civil Engineering and Natural Resources Faculty senior lecturer Dr Nurul Nadrah Aqilah Tukimat, this was due to rising carbon dioxide levels, which had made global temperatures rise.
“In 2012, the phenomena had already existed but Malaysia was not affected and in 2014 we experienced a weak El Nino. Based on the pattern, we probably would experience the El Nino phenomenon once in two years,” she said.
