A new study found that forest fires in Australia may have contributed to the start of the three-year cycle of the La Niña weather phenomenon, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.

Millions of hectares of land across Australia were burnt to ashes by bushfires in 2019 and 2020, at least 26 people lost their lives and thousands of homes were destroyed.

According to the new study, the levels of aerosols that the fires released into the atmosphere were as high as those released in the process of large volcanic eruptions in the past.

"This is the first time a bushfire has been large enough to affect climate patterns," said Dr Tom Mortlock from the Center for Global Warming Research at the University of Sydney.

He said the new study suggests that wildfires fueled by strong westerly winds that carried the smoke across the Pacific increased cloudiness and cooled ocean temperatures.

This, in turn, influenced the formation and duration of La Niña.

The effects of La Niña have spread over three consecutive years (from 2020 to 2023) for the first time in about two decades.

According to Mortlock, wildfires have highlighted the interconnectedness of the climate system.

"The continued La Niña, above-average rainfall and the lack of wildfires along the East Coast have increased heat sources and provided fire conditions for the arrival of El Niño," he explained.

"There is now a 60% chance that El Niño will begin to form this winter and reach its peak in the spring and summer," the scientist added.

El Niño is a period of warming of surface waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

The phenomenon leads to changes in air and water currents worldwide.

It usually causes severe drought in the territories of Australia, as well as in some regions of Africa and South America.

El Niño also brings heavy rainfall along the Pacific coast of the United States.

La Niña, on the other hand, is the cold climatic phase during which the current carries the warming from solar radiation to the deep waters of the western Pacific Ocean, where it is stored.

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