'El Niño' phenomenon pushes parts of the Pacific Ocean toward record heat

The El Niño climate phenomenon has pushed sea surface temperatures in a key region of the Pacific Ocean to unprecedented levels this month, according to the European Union’s Climate Monitoring Service yesterday, signaling a further intensification of the extreme event. Meteorologists worldwide have warned for months that the current El Niño could become the strongest on record, with the latest record already broken before the phenomenon is expected to peak later this year. El Niño is a warming phase within a natural climate cycle that raises temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean, triggering changes in weather patterns that can increase the risks of droughts and floods and exacerbate global warming driven by human activity. Copernicus Climate Change Service reported that sea surface temperatures in a key El Niño monitoring region of the Pacific, known as Niño 3.4, reached an all-time high of 29.70 degrees Celsius last month.