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Researchers have simulated anEl Niño - like climate radiation pattern in the Pacific Ocean and found that it dissemble winds and sea temperature across the entire Southern Hemisphere .

The pattern begins with thaw seas near New Zealand and Australia that trigger a wave of temperature changes in the south of the equator .

A stock image of the Pacific Ocean at sunset from space.

Stock image of thunderclouds over the Pacific Ocean, where researchers identified the new climate pattern.

Climate scientists have known about a pattern affect sea surface temperature fluctuation in the regionsince 2021 , but they did n’t understand how it work . In a new written report put out July 6 in theJournal of Geophysical Research : Oceans , research worker successfully simulated the pattern for the first time . They named the climate phenomenon the " Southern Hemisphere Circumpolar Wavenumber-4 practice " ( SST - W4 ) .

" This find is like finding a new switch in Earth ’s clime , " survey lead authorBalaji Senapati , a postdoctoral investigator in climate moral force at the University of Reading in the U.K. , said in astatement . " It shows that a relatively small area of the ocean can have wide - reaching effects on global weather and climate patterns . "

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A satellite photo of the sun shining on the Pacific Ocean

This SST - W4 pattern share some characteristics with El Niño , a climate cycle in the Pacific Ocean that work weather shape worldwide and has a warming core . However , the SST - W4 pattern occurs severally of El Niño and other known weather systems .

To track the pattern , the research worker used a climate emulator called SINTEX - F2 to feign 300 years of climate conditions , harmonize to the study . The mould reveal class - to - year wavering in sea control surface temperatures between December and February , have by a circling pattern of four alternating warm and nerveless arena .

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The wafture - comparable form ripples out from its start breaker point in the southwesterly subtropic Pacific and travel around the Southern Hemisphere on strong winds , accord to the argument .

Satellite imagery of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC).

Now that investigator have simulated the SST - W4 pattern , they can better predict weather events south of the equator .

" Understanding this raw conditions system could greatly improve weather forecasting and mood prediction , especially in the Southern Hemisphere , " Senapati enjoin . " It might help explicate climate change that were antecedently inscrutable and could meliorate our ability to forecast extreme weather condition and climate events . "

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Two reconstructions showing the location of the north polar vortex over the Arctic on March 1, 2025 and over Northern Europe on March 20, 2025.

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Tunnel view of Yosemite National Park.