Earth’s Interconnected Climate: Understanding Our Changing World

Have you ever thought about what causes the weather conditions that you experience where you live? Maybe you are thinking, “Sure, when there are storm clouds overhead it rains or snows, and when the sun shines strongly in the summer, we have hot weather”. This is true, but the “big” story is more complicated: the conditions you experience in your area can actually be caused by weather and climate events that occur thousands of kilometers away. These long-distance effects are called teleconnections, and they are a natural part of Earth’s climate system. In this article, we provide examples of teleconnections and describe how scientists study them using powerful computer programs. We also explain how climate change might affect these invisible forces that stretch across the Earth, and how resulting changes in teleconnections could cause extreme weather events, like powerful rainstorms or droughts, in certain areas. The more scientists understand about teleconnections, the better we can protect areas that are vulnerable to the dangerous effects of climate change.