Satellite sea surface temperature departure for October 2015 over the Pacific. Orange-red colors indicate above normal temperatures, indicative of an El Niño condition. The 2015-16 El Niño was the first extreme El Niño of the 21st century and among the three strongest El Niños on record. Credit: NOAA National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS)
El Niño Southern Oscillation in a Changing Climate, 2020. American Geophysical Union, M. J. McPhaden, A. Santoso, W. Cai (Editors). Washington DC, 528pp. Published online 2 November 2020. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119548164.ch21
The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in the Pacific Ocean has major worldwide social and economic consequences through its global scale effects on atmospheric and oceanic circulation,
marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and other natural systems. Ongoing climate change is projected to significantly alter ENSO’s dynamics and impacts.
El Niño Southern Oscillation in a Changing Climate presents the latest theories, models, and observations, and explores the challenges of forecasting ENSO as the climate continues to
change.
Volume highlights include:
- Historical background on ENSO and its societal consequences
- Review of key El Niño (ENSO warm phase) and La Niña (ENSO cold phase) characteristics
- Mathematical description of the underlying physical processes that generate ENSO variations
- Conceptual framework for understanding ENSO changes on decadal and longer time scales, including the response to greenhouse gas forcing
- ENSO impacts on extreme ocean, weather, and climate events, including tropical cyclones, and how ENSO affects fisheries and the global carbon cycle
- Advances in modeling, paleo-reconstructions, and operational climate forecasting
- Future projections of ENSO and its impacts
- Factors influencing ENSO events, such as inter-basin climate interactions and volcanic eruptions
Read more on the NOAA Research feature and AGU highlight.
Additional press releases:
- University of Hawaii: https://www.soest.
hawaii.edu/soestwp/announce/ news/new-publication-advances- knowledge-of-el-nino-in-a-chan ging-climate/ - Monash University: https://www.monash.
edu/science/news/current/ monash-university-climate- scientists-contribute-to-new- authoritative-book-on-el-nino - Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO): https://cshor.csiro.
au/enso-book-release/