Climate change causing weather extremes in Indian Ocean

New Scientist : For the past 6500 years, the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) has been responsible for droughts and storms across the region. During the IOD’s positive phase, the oscillation of warm water toward East Africa leads to more rain in that region and causes sea surface temperatures to drop around Indonesia and Australia. During its negative phase, the situation is reversed. Wind tempers the effect by flowing in the opposite direction. According to a recent study published in Nature Geoscience, as global temperatures rise that wind could weaken. If so, rather than the positive and negative phases of the IOD becoming more extreme, as was once thought, the dipole may get increasingly stuck in the positive direction. Were that to happen, Africa could get hit with more frequent bouts of torrential rain, while Australia and Indonesia go dry.