All articles tagged with #pacific ocean
An August 2019 underwater volcanic eruption near Tonga generated a massive pumice raft covering 195 square kilometers, larger than Aruba. This floating debris field traveled over 3,000 kilometers to reach Australian waters by April 2020, transporting more than 100 species of marine organisms, including corals and barnacles, across the Pacific Ocean.
A pod of sperm whales struck and sank the 52-foot yacht Tai Tam in the remote South Pacific, forcing four crew members into a life raft. The vessel, traveling from New Zealand, was hit by six to eight whales, causing severe hull damage and steering failure. After an 18-hour survival effort, the crew was rescued by a container ship with no injuries.
A 'super' El Niño is intensifying in late 2026, marking the strongest event in over a millennium. This extreme warming of the tropical Pacific is expected to drive record global temperatures, alter hurricane patterns, and cause severe coastal flooding, particularly in California, while bringing wetter, milder winters to the Carolinas.
The 2026-2027 El Niño event is on track to become the strongest in recorded history, with peak ocean temperature anomalies projected to exceed 4.1°C in the Niño 3.4 region. This unprecedented strength is driven by record-breaking westerly wind bursts and a massive subsurface Kelvin wave that has deepened the thermocline by over 80 meters in some areas. The event is expected to peak in November or December, triggering a stationary atmospheric wave pattern that will dominate global circulation through spring. Forecasters predict a split-flow winter across North America, with milder conditions in the north and an active storm track in the south, while Europe faces above-average temperatures. The rapid intensification has already set record wind anomalies, surpassing the 2015-2016 event in speed and strength.
The 2026 El Niño event has broken historical temperature records in the eastern Pacific, with sea surface anomalies reaching 3.8°C above normal in the Niño 3 region. This unprecedented warmth, occurring months before the typical peak, is already reshaping global weather patterns, including a hyperactive Pacific hurricane season and a likely wet winter for California.
The 2026 hurricane season is defined by extreme imbalance: the Atlantic has produced only seven tropical storms and zero hurricanes, while the Pacific has generated 18 named storms and eight hurricanes. This divergence is attributed to a powerful El Niño event and a severe drought in Ethiopia, which disrupted tropical wave formation. The Atlantic’s accumulated cyclone energy is at its lowest since 1925, whereas the Pacific’s activity is far above average, with Hurricane Polo reaching 180 mph winds.
A powerful El Niño event is simultaneously influencing severe weather on both coasts of the United States. While a nor'easter brought coastal flooding to the East Coast, Hurricane Nolo is threatening Hawaii with heavy rainfall. This dual impact highlights the phenomenon's growing influence on global storm patterns, following a record-strength El Niño that began earlier this year.
A 'super El Niño' has shattered historical temperature records in the Pacific Ocean, with forecasts predicting a peak of 4.0C by December. The Climate Impact Lab projects this event could cause 451,000 excess heat-related deaths globally by February 2027, disproportionately affecting nations in the Global South. While the phenomenon is a natural cycle, scientists warn that underlying fossil-fuel-driven warming is amplifying its impacts, leading to severe droughts, wildfires, and food insecurity worldwide.
Marie, a Category 1 hurricane, is forecast to drift north and push tropical moisture toward Southern California this weekend, potentially delivering rare rain with beach hazards from high surf and rip currents but no expected flooding; moisture could also reach southern Nevada and the western Four Corners. The Pacific is active with three storms—Marie, Lowell and Karina—with Lowell near Hawaii as a major threat to Kauai before turning away, while Karina is expected to weaken offshore.
A rare trio of eastern Pacific hurricanes—Lowell, Karina and Marie—are churning between Hawaii and the western U.S. Two have become major hurricanes, Lowell briefly intensified to Category 5 before easing to about 145 mph, Karina remains a major hurricane as it drifts northwest, and Marie stays offshore but could contribute moisture to the U.S. West Coast; scientists note it’s the first time Category 4 and 5 storms were present simultaneously in the eastern Pacific.
Hurricane Lowell has intensified into a dangerous Category 5 in the Central Pacific, joining a busy field that includes Category 4 Hurricane Karina and Tropical Storm Marie. Forecasters say Lowell is likely to track westward toward Hawaii, though its exact path remains uncertain due to interactions with Karina and variable steering patterns amid an El Niño-boosted Pacific. The basin’s high activity raises the potential for impacts in Hawaii later in the week, with additional development areas monitored nearby.
Long before Kusama’s Infinity Nets and Infinity Rooms, she traveled from Japan to the United States in 1957 and painted “The Pacific Ocean,” a work that mirrors anxiety, awe, and a sense of possibility as she faced an uncertain future. The painting and related Pacific-titled works reveal a source of inspiration beyond the artist’s well-known struggles with mental health, showing how the vast ocean and her cross-cultural journey helped shape her shift from Japan to New York. This origin story adds nuance to Kusama’s legacy, illustrating that her art emerged from a complex mix of ambition, environment, and personal upheaval rather than being explained by psychiatric illness alone.
An immense Pacific marine heatwave coinciding with a super El Niño is expected to alter US weather this autumn: California faces higher storm surge and heavy rainfall risks, the Pacific Northwest could see reduced snowfall and drought conditions, wildfire risk rises in the West, Atlantic hurricanes may be suppressed while eastern Pacific storms intensify, and marine ecosystems and fisheries bear the cost of warmer waters.
Hurricane Karina strengthened to Category 4 with about 145 mph winds far off the Mexican coast, and no coastal watches were in effect, though waves were expected to affect Mexico and possibly Southern California; further strengthening was anticipated. Separately, Tropical Storm Lowell was about 855 miles east-southeast of Hawaii and could become a hurricane by Monday night or Tuesday, but posed no immediate land threat.
Tropical Storms Karina and Lowell formed in the Pacific and are expected to strengthen into hurricanes, while Dolly formed in the Atlantic and could bring heavy rain to the Caribbean; no coastal watches were issued yet, but swells from Karina could trigger dangerous surf and rip currents for parts of southwest Mexico and the Baja California Peninsula. The NOAA also projects a below-average Atlantic hurricane season with 8–14 named storms, 3–6 hurricanes, and 1–3 major hurricanes.