Human evolution and ancient El Niño/La Niña

A study of terrestrial and marine climate proxies spanning the last 620,000 years in Africa’s low latitudes–a timeframe and region important to the evolution of modern humans–finds that the key driver of moisture availability across Africa was likely warming and cooling of the Pacific Ocean paced by changes in solar radiation; this climate process may have in turn governed the distribution of plant and animal species and created favorable conditions for resource-rich regions from which modern humans may have emerged, according to the authors.

Article #20-18277: “Paleo-ENSO influence on African environments and early modern humans,” by Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr et al.

MEDIA CONTACT: Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr, University of Potsdam, GERMANY; tel: +49 176 62037291; email:

[email protected]

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This part of information is sourced from https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-05/potn-hea052621.php

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