On the Galapagos Islands, MPR’s Sven Sundgaard sees signs El Niño may be ebbing

I’m in Ecuador and just wrapped up an incredible third visit to the Galapagos Islands, this time sharing the experience with a crew of MPR News audience members.

I’ll be discussing the trip and the climate implications of what I found on an upcoming Climate Cast with MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner, but here’s a taste of what we’ll be talking about.

The Galapagos Islands became well-known globally following the 1835 visit by naturalist Charles Darwin. They are unique and full of biodiversity thanks to their location on the equator. Trade winds blowing east to west cause an upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich waters.

The El Niño climate pattern, though, has shut this whole system down, causing negative impacts on the wildlife.

“There’s high mortality rate on sea lions, penguins and marine iguanas mostly, also the flightless cormorants,” said Duncan Divine, a lifelong Galapagos resident and naturalist guide from the Galapagos National Park. “They get decimated dramatically during an El Niño.”

Interestingly, most locals have said the waters were hotter and the effects on wildlife greater last year than so far in 2024.

Fabricio Maldonado, another Galapagos National Park naturalist, recalled a visit last year to Santa Fé Island in the Galapagos where he brought snorkelers only to find that the waters had turned so warm the fish had left what was normally an ideal spot for viewing.

“Santa Fé is a location we used to see a lot of fish,” he said, “That day everything disappeared, because with more temperature the oxygen drops.” 

It’s possible that in early 2024, we’re starting to see the first signs of this season’s “Super El Niño” breaking down into a neutral, La Niña pattern.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Thursday issued a La Niña watch, anticipating a possible change to El Niño’s opposite pattern developing by sometime this summer.