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[NASA] El Niño Alters Marine Life in the Pacific

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  3. El Niño Alters Marine Life…
 


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june 2025
june 2026

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NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison

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NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison
june 2025june 2026

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NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison
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NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison

june 2025

june 2026


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Image Details

Concentrations of chlorophyll in the equatorial Pacific deviate from normal during El Niño events. These maps depict monthly average chlorophyll concentrations for June 2025 (left), under neutral conditions, and June 2026 (right), as El Niño was strengthening. Data come from the
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 (Ocean Color Instrument) on NASA’s 
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 (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) satellite and are based on measurements of green and blue light from the ocean reflected back to the sensor. NASA Earth Observatory images by Michala Garrison.

As of June 2026, El Niño has

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. This naturally recurring phenomenon is characterized by warmer-than-normal water temperatures in parts of the equatorial Pacific along with changes to atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns. Its regional effects range from desert floods to delayed monsoons to shifts in where tropical cyclones are more likely to form.

NOAA’s

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expects the current El Niño to continue to strengthen through the end of 2026, with a 97 percent chance of lasting through early Northern Hemisphere spring 2027. Even during El Niño’s early stages, satellites have observed characteristic changes along the equatorial Pacific, such as warmer-than-normal
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and higher-than-normal
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.

Among the first ecological downstream effects are changes to the marine food web. The maps above show

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concentrations—the pigment present in most
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—as observed by the
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 (Ocean Color Instrument) on NASA’s 
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 (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) satellite. In June 2025 (left), conditions were neutral, while in June 2026 (right), El Niño was strengthening.

The most noticeable difference appears in the central Pacific, around the equator due north of New Zealand: chlorophyll concentrations, an indication of phytoplankton abundance, are substantially lower in 2026. This change is expected, said Matthew Kehrli and Graham Trolley, oceanographers in the Ocean Ecology Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. That’s because during an El Niño, easterly equatorial trade winds weaken, the warm surface layer of the ocean extends deeper, and the upwelling of cool, nutrient-rich water that typically fuels phytoplankton growth is suppressed.  

As the El Niño progresses, the scientists anticipate the differences in the central Pacific will become more pronounced. “This may manifest as a greater difference in values across the current region, as a broadening region of reduced surface chlorophyll-a concentration, or both, depending on the behavior of the equatorial trade winds,” they said.

Reductions in phytoplankton have ripple effects through the marine food web, including in coastal regions. Less food is available for

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, as well as for fish, seabirds, and marine mammals. Peru’s anchovy fisheries have seen profound
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during past El Niños, driven similarly by warmer surface waters, reduced upwelling, and lower phytoplankton abundance. In 2026, Peru’s
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repeatedly suspended the fishery to safeguard the country’s main fishing resource. Pelicans have been seen
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into Peruvian ports and urban areas in search of food.

Although the disruptions to marine life can be severe, a post-El Niño “chlorophyll rebound,” with higher-than-normal concentrations in the equatorial Pacific, can occur.

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that higher iron concentrations delivered in ocean currents, as well as dust arriving from drier land in parts of Central and South America, help fuel the resurgence—a rebound that doesn’t require a follow-on La Niña. La Niña, which
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El Niño events, can also produce elevated chlorophyll concentrations. A strong La Niña in 1998–1999 set off a
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in the eastern Pacific and a dramatic increase in fish populations.

Scientists have new tools available for studying this sort of variability. The PACE mission launched in February 2024, making this the first complete El Niño event for which the satellite will gather global, near-daily hyperspectral measurements. “The scientific community will be able to observe the 2026 El Niño with data across more wavelengths of light than ever before,” Kehrli and Trolley said.

To better understand effects on life in the ocean, researchers hope to use PACE data to gauge the responses of specific phytoplankton communities to El Niño. And the possibilities extend beyond the marine realm, the scientists note. PACE’s sensors can measure

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on land and
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in the atmosphere, all of which are influenced by El Niño.

NASA Earth Observatory images by Michala Garrison, using PACE data from the 

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and processed by Matthew Kehrli. Story by Lindsey Doermann.

Downloads

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June 2025

JPEG (1.40 MB)

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June 2026

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June 2025 + June 2026

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References & Resources

  • The Conversation (2026, June 17)
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    . Accessed August 6, 2026.
  • Lim, H.-G., et al. (2022) 
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    . Geophysical Research Letters, 49, e2021GL096113. 
  • Ministry of Production (2026, June 11)
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    . Accessed August 6, 2026.
  • NASA (2016)
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    . Accessed August 6, 2026.
  • NASA Earth Observatory (2026, June 18)
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    . Accessed August 6, 2026.
  • NASA Earth Observatory (2025, September 25) 
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    . Accessed August 6, 2026.
  • NASA Earth Observatory (2015, October 29)
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    . Accessed August 6, 2026.
  • NASA Scientific Visualization Studio (2016, January 29)
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    . Accessed August 6, 2026.
  • NWS Climate Predication Center (2026, July 9)
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    . Accessed August 6, 2026.

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