From the Headlines...

El Nino

Global Warming May Dent El Niño’s Protective Shield from Atlantic Hurricanes, Increase Droughts Elsewhere

El Niño, the periodic phenomenon often credited with shielding the U.S. and Caribbean from severe hurricane seasons, may soon be overshadowed by its brother in the central Pacific due to global warming, according to a paper in Nature. The eastern El Niño increases wind sheer in the Atlantic that can hamper the development of hurricanes there. The central Pacific El Niño, however, has been blamed for worsening drought conditions in Australia and India as well as minimizing the effects of its beneficial brother to the east. Read more…

Quadrant

Ecology: Bleaching increases chance of coral disease

Mass coral bleaching has devastated coral colonies around the world for almost three decades. Now scientists from UM have found that bleaching can make corals more susceptible to disease and, in turn, coral disease can exacerbate the negative effects of bleaching. A paper in the October issue of the journal Ecology shows that when they occur together, this combination of afflictions causes greater harm to corals than either does on its own. Read more…