(2016): El Niг±o

It had started late in 2015 when the easterly trade winds suddenly stalled and collapsed. Instead of the cool, nutrient-rich Humboldt Current rising from the deep ocean to feed massive schools of anchoveta, a massive, sluggish blanket of warm water pushed across the equator from the western Pacific. To Mateo’s ancestors, this seasonal warming near Christmas was known as El Niño —the Christ Child. But what was happening now was no gentle seasonal shift. This was a giant waking up.

The massive , drastically altering global climates and affecting over 60 million people. Dubbed the "Godzilla El Niño" by scientists, its peak in 2016 unleashed severe droughts in Africa and Asia, record-breaking global temperatures, and chaotic storm systems across the Americas. The Breath of the Sleeping Giant El niГ±o (2016)

The impacts of the 2015/2016 El Niño on California's sandy beaches It had started late in 2015 when the

The ocean looked an eerie, beautiful shade of turquoise, but it was completely barren. The fish had fled south or dived into the depths to escape the stifling heat, leaving Mateo’s nets empty and his community on the brink of financial ruin. A Planet Out of Balance But what was happening now was no gentle seasonal shift

Thousands of miles away, the massive shift in ocean temperatures was playing puppet master with the global atmosphere, altering the jet streams that circle the Earth.

Mateo stood on the sun-baked docks of Paita, Peru, watching the Pacific Ocean. For generations, his family of fishermen had lived by the rhythms of the sea. But by the early months of 2016, those rhythms had been entirely shattered.