Black summer bushfires may have caused rare ‘triple dip’ La Niña, study suggests

The bushfires that raged across south-east Australia in 2019-20 triggered a long-lasting climate feedback loop, researchers think. Photograph: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images

Smoke from Australia’s 2019-20 black summer fires may have resulted in the rare “triple dip” La Niña that lasted from 2020 to 2022, research suggests.

Modelling from scientists at the US National Center for Atmospheric Research has found that smoke aerosols from the bushfires interacted with clouds to cool surface waters over the south-eastern subtropical Pacific Ocean.