Inlay

Congratulations to atmospheric scientist & AGU Member Ángel F. Adames-Corraliza on being selected as a MacArthur Fellow! www.macfound.org/fellows/clas... In 2018, he also received @agu.org's James R. Holton Award for his study of the Madden-Julian Oscillation! eos.org/agu-news/ada... Well done!

New paper on cloud feedbacks out! urldefense.com/v3/__https:/... Should an enhanced East Pacific warming pattern manifest at equilibrium, our results suggest that CESM2’s high climate sensitivity may be realized.

Shiv Priyam Raghuraman

Prof. Shiv Priyam Raghuraman has received the 2026 Outstanding Early Career Award from the AMS Radiation STAC “for advances in understanding of Earth’s radiative forcings, feedbacks, and spectral signatures.” Learn more: climas.illinois.edu/news/2026-01...

Meet new CliMAS Assistant Professor Priyam Raghuraman. “I hope to accomplish better predictions of the fate of our climate. My teaching interests are on similar topics: climate change, atmospheric radiation, and climate and clouds.” Read more: climas.illinois.edu/news/2024-09...

Congratulations to assistant professor @rshivpriyam.bsky.social on receiving the prestigious 2024 ACP Paul Crutzen Publication Award! His award-winning paper focuses on short-term climate variability. Read more: climas.illinois.edu/news/2025-05...

Neat new paper from Priyam Raghuraman et al. that argues a strong El Nino following a persistent La Nina can explain the jump in global temperatures in 2023. acp.copernicus.org/a...

I’m recruiting a graduate student to conduct research in climate science and atmospheric physics beginning in Fall 2025 @climasuiuc.bsky.social @uofilsystem.bsky.social Please the details below. Feel free to reach out. I appreciate anyone spreading the word!

We are hiring a postdoc to research Earth's Energy Imbalance using Earth system model simulations and satellite observations. I appreciate anyone spreading the word! docs.google.com/document/d/1...

My latest: The spike in 2023 temperatures has loomed as a pressing mystery in #climate science. But new work suggests that it could have been El Niño after all. www.science.org/content/arti...

Three recent studies reveal how the interplay between El Niño and long-term #GlobalWarming drove the record-breaking global temperatures of 2023. 🌡️ 🔗 Learn more in @eos.org https://buff.ly/40DI9TZ #ClimateChange #ElNiño #AGUPubs @oceansclimatecu.bsky.social

Postdoctoral Research Associate Position in Earth’s Energy Imbalance Department of Climate, Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The Department of Climate, Mete...

Shiv Priyam Raghuraman

Cloud feedback overestimated in coupled CESM2 simulations relative to AMIP simulations and satellite observations: importance of the pattern effect and implications for climate sensitivity, Raghuraman...

AGU (American Geophysical Union)

Advancing understanding of the forces that drive tropical weather patterns.

Abstract. Global-mean surface temperature rapidly increased 0.29 ± 0.04 K from 2022 to 2023. Such a large interannual global warming spike is not unprecedented in the observational record, with a previous instance occurring in 1976–1977. However, why such large global warming spikes occur is unknown, and the rapid global warming of 2023 has led to concerns that it could have been externally driven. Here we show that climate models that are subject only to internal variability can generate such spikes, but they are an uncommon occurrence (p = 1.6 % ± 0.1 %). However, when a prolonged La Niña immediately precedes an El Niño in the simulations, as occurred in nature in 1976–1977 and 2022–2023, such spikes become much more common (p = 10.3 % ± 0.4 %). Furthermore, we find that nearly all simulated spikes (p = 88.5 % ± 0.3 %) are associated with El Niño occurring that year. Thus, our results underscore the importance of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation in driving the occurrence of global warming spikes such as the one in 2023, without needing to invoke anthropogenic forcing, such as changes in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases or aerosols, as an explanation.

Three recent studies reveal how the interplay between El Niño and long-term global warming drove the record-breaking global temperatures of 2023.

Research suggests swings in Pacific Ocean can account for planet’s sudden and perplexing temperature jump

In 2023, global temperatures spiked in a way that puzzled scientists, sparked headlines, and led many people to wonder whether the climate was entering an unpredictable new phase. The spike stood out ...