Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit

Scientists document first evidence that El Ni?o influences global climate conditions on a 2,000-year cycle

Thursday, November 14, 2002, By News Staff
Share

Scientists document first evidence that El Ni?o influences global climate conditions on a 2,000-year cycleNovember 14, 2002Judy Holmesjlholmes@syr.edu

El Ni?o, the pattern that can wreak havoc on climate conditions around the world, is like a beacon, pulsating through time on a 2,000 year cycle, according to a new study by scientists from Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y.; Union College, Schenectady, N.Y., and from the NOAA Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder, Colo., that is being published in the Nov. 14 issue of Nature.

The study, which resulted from a detailed analysis of a continuous 10,000-year record of El Ni?o events from a lake in southern Ecuador, is the first documented evidence that such a millennial cycle exists for El Ni?o. The researchers found that the frequency of El Ni?o events peaked about 1,200 years ago, or during the early Middle Ages. If the pattern continues into the future, there should be an increase in El Ni?o events in the early part of the 22nd century, the scientists say.

“El Ni?o operates within its own kind of 2,000-year rhythm, and because of that, we believe these periodic changes have had a major impact on global climate conditions over the past 10,000 years,” says Christopher Moy G’00, the lead author of the study and a 2000 graduate of Syracuse University. “El Ni?o is one of the primary forces that can alter climate around the globe during a short period of time.”

The study is the result of work Moy did as a graduate student in the Department of Earth Sciences in Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences for his master’s thesis. His advisor was Prof. Geoffrey Seltzer. In a 1999 study published in Science, Seltzer and Donald T. Rodbell, who was Moy’s undergraduate advisor at Union College, discovered the first continuous record of El Ni?o events that dated back more than 5,000 years. That study was based on sediment samples taken in 1993 from the same lake in southern Ecuador-Lake Pallcacocha-as part of a larger global climate study on which they were collaborating.

This new study of El Ni?o events is based on another set of sediment cores taken in 1999 from Lake Pallcacocha, which is located in the Andes Mountains. The National Science Foundation funded the research.

Characterized by warm sea surface temperatures that appear off the western coast of South America, modern El Ni?o events cause dramatic changes in the weather systems across both the North and South American continents-from tumultuous rainfall in northern Peru and southern Ecuador to unusually warm and dry conditions in the northeastern United States.

Like the 1993 sediment core samples, the new core samples contain a series of light-colored sediment layers that contain the type of debris that would flow into the lake during periods of intense precipitation. In his analysis of the sediment layers, Moy confirmed results from the first study-that scattered El Ni?o events began about 10,000 years ago and steadily increased in frequency beginning about 7,000 years ago. In addition to that, he uncovered high-frequency clusters of El Ni?o events occurring on a 2,000-year cycle.

“About every 2,000 years, we see a lot of El Ni?o activity,” says Moy, who is currently a graduate student at Stanford University and plans to pursue a Ph.D. in geology and environmental science. “This oscillation has not been seen in any other study of climate records of this area of the world, which makes this study unique. El Ni?o is an important part of our modern-day climate system. Likewise, our study shows it was also an important part of the earth’s climate system 7,000 years ago. Understanding the past will help us to better understand future climate changes.”

Seltzer says that Moy’s study sheds new light on a tropical phenomenon that can radically alter climate conditions in a relatively short period of time. “We are extremely excited and pleased that the research Chris did as a Syracuse University graduate student is now being published in a premier, international journal and that he is moving toward greater accomplishments in the field. It’s the ultimate outcome for our program and of a student-centered research university like Syracuse University.”

  • Author

News Staff

  • Recent
  • Maxwell Sociologists Receive $1.8 Million From the NIA to Study Midlife Health and Mortality
    Sunday, September 24, 2023, By News Staff
  • School of Education Faculty Publish ‘Lesson Study With Mathematics and Science Preservice Teachers’
    Sunday, September 24, 2023, By Martin Walls
  • Water Main Break Near Bird Library to Be Repaired Monday
    Sunday, September 24, 2023, By News Staff
  • University Musicians, West Point Band to Perform Together This Weekend As Part of Events Around Military Appreciation Day
    Friday, September 22, 2023, By Christine Weber
  • Turning Young Enthusiasts Into Scientific Researchers
    Friday, September 22, 2023, By Wendy S. Loughlin

More In Uncategorized

Syracuse Views Fall 2023

We want to know how you experience Syracuse University. Take a photo and share it with us. We select photos from a variety of sources. Submit photos of your University experience using #SyracuseU on social media, fill out a submission…

Phillips Appointed Interim Director at Lender Center for Social Justice; Director Search Committee Named

The Lender Center for Social Justice has familiar leadership for the 2023-24 academic year while a renewed search for a permanent director is conducted. Kendall Phillips, founding co-director of the Lender Center and professor in the Department of Communication and…

Syracuse Views Spring 2023

We want to know how you experience Syracuse University. Take a photo and share it with us. We select photos from a variety of sources. Submit photos of your University experience using #SyracuseU on social media, fill out a submission…

Awards of Excellence Honoree: Maxwell has Been ‘a Guiding Hand’ in Public Service Career

Standing before an audience of fellow Maxwell School alumni gathered in Washington, D.C., for the second annual Maxwell Awards of Excellence, CNN anchor Boris Sanchez ’09 shared the motivation behind his work as a journalist. Sanchez emigrated from Cuba as…

NASA Honoring Those Who Were Aboard Space Shuttle Columbia And Other Late Astronauts

Sean O’Keefe, University Professor in the Maxwell School, was interviewed for the USA Today article “Twenty years later, loss of space shuttle Columbia still teaches us lessons.” The article emphasizes how NASA’s Memorial Grove is used to honor late astronauts,…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2023 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.