Why are El Niños getting stronger? 1000-year-coral record points to climate change0

• SCIENCE, Science / Health, Science Mission Directorate, scientists, Space, Space Communications & Navigation Program, Space Launch System (SLS), Space Telescope, space-x-ipo, SpaceX
• August 28, 2026

Wildfires in Indonesia this year, including this one next to a housing complex in Kubu Raya, might been intensified by the strong El Niño. Credit: DITO/AFP via Getty For Julia Cole, a palaeoclimatologist who uses corals to study Earth’s past climate, the powerful El Niño event now gaining strength in the Pacific Ocean comes as