OPINION: Why Understanding Oceans Is Vital To Economy, Security

Meteorologists and oceanographers still love to talk about the 2015-16 El Niño that wasn’t. It was the weather event that was meant to deliver California from the horrible drought that had afflicted the state for four years. Emergency officials braced for widespread flooding usually associated with El Niño as Eastern Pacific Ocean temperatures jumped nearly 4 degrees Fahrenheit in the months leading up to that winter, just as they had during the great El Niños of the past. It was supposed to be, as one researcher predicted, the “Godzilla” El Niño.