Asymmetric tropical ocean warming since 1999 has reshaped the Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO), a key climate rhythm driving rainfall, monsoons, and storms worldwide. Researchers using satellite and reanalysis data found the MJO now moves faster over the Indian Ocean and Maritime Continent but slows over the western Pacific. These shifts show how uneven ocean warming reorganizes tropical convection, with vital implications for improving climate models, forecasts, and resilience to extremes.

African easterly waves, which directly impact communities in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas, are shown to intensify during La Niña, advancing our understanding of how these weather systems influence storm activity.

The German research aircraft HALO is currently being prepared for deployment in New Zealand at its home base at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen: During the "HALO-South" mission, which will begin in September, researchers led by the Leibniz Institute of Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) will investigate the interaction of clouds, aerosols, and radiation over the Southern Ocean. To this end, HALO will spend five weeks conducting measurement flights over the oceans of the clean southern hemisphere from Christchurch, New Zealand. Since it went into service in 2012, HALO has only been used this far south once before. The mission in New Zealand is therefore a first: never before has a German research aircraft investigated the South Pacific and the adjacent Southern Ocean in this region. The aircraft measurements during ‘HALO-South’ are mainly funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) with contributions from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (MPIC) and the German Aerospace Centre (DLR). They mark the start of intensive research cooperation between Germany and New Zealand.

The researchers hope that the measurements will not only provide important data for optimizing weather forecasts and climate models in the little-explored southern hemisphere, but also provide a better fundamental understanding of how the atmosphere and clouds will respond to a decline in anthropogenic emissions in the coming decades. For the team, looking into the cleaner atmosphere around Antarctica is therefore also a glimpse into the future.