Contribution of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diversity to Low‐Frequency Changes in ENSO Variance

Abstract El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) diversity is characterized based on the longitudinal location of maximum sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) and amplitude in the tropical Pacific, as Central Pacific events are typically weaker than Eastern Pacific events. SSTA pattern and intensity...

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Main Authors: Jakob Schlör, Felix Strnad, Antonietta Capotondi, Bedartha Goswami
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2024-07-01
Series:Geophysical Research Letters
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL109179
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author Jakob Schlör
Felix Strnad
Antonietta Capotondi
Bedartha Goswami
author_facet Jakob Schlör
Felix Strnad
Antonietta Capotondi
Bedartha Goswami
author_sort Jakob Schlör
collection DOAJ
description Abstract El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) diversity is characterized based on the longitudinal location of maximum sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) and amplitude in the tropical Pacific, as Central Pacific events are typically weaker than Eastern Pacific events. SSTA pattern and intensity undergo low‐frequency modulations, affecting ENSO prediction skill and remote impacts, and resulting in low‐frequency changes in ENSO variance. Yet, how different ENSO types contribute to these decadal variance changes remains unclear. Here, we decompose the low‐frequency changes of ENSO variance into contributions from ENSO diversity categories. We propose a fuzzy clustering of monthly SSTA to allow for non‐binary event category memberships, where each event can belong to different clusters. Our approach identifies two La Niña and three El Niño categories and shows that the major shift of ENSO variance in the mid‐1970s was associated with an increasing likelihood of strong La Niña and extreme El Niño events.
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spelling doaj-art-2ceca7b7a3b2427aa913313e4dd3a53c2025-08-20T03:49:46ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072024-07-015114n/an/a10.1029/2024GL109179Contribution of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diversity to Low‐Frequency Changes in ENSO VarianceJakob Schlör0Felix Strnad1Antonietta Capotondi2Bedartha Goswami3Machine Learning in Climate Science University of Tübingen Tübingen GermanyMachine Learning in Climate Science University of Tübingen Tübingen GermanyCooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences University of Colorado Boulder CO USAMachine Learning in Climate Science University of Tübingen Tübingen GermanyAbstract El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) diversity is characterized based on the longitudinal location of maximum sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) and amplitude in the tropical Pacific, as Central Pacific events are typically weaker than Eastern Pacific events. SSTA pattern and intensity undergo low‐frequency modulations, affecting ENSO prediction skill and remote impacts, and resulting in low‐frequency changes in ENSO variance. Yet, how different ENSO types contribute to these decadal variance changes remains unclear. Here, we decompose the low‐frequency changes of ENSO variance into contributions from ENSO diversity categories. We propose a fuzzy clustering of monthly SSTA to allow for non‐binary event category memberships, where each event can belong to different clusters. Our approach identifies two La Niña and three El Niño categories and shows that the major shift of ENSO variance in the mid‐1970s was associated with an increasing likelihood of strong La Niña and extreme El Niño events.https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL109179El Niño Southern Oscillationdecadal variabilityunsupervised clusteringmachine learning
spellingShingle Jakob Schlör
Felix Strnad
Antonietta Capotondi
Bedartha Goswami
Contribution of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diversity to Low‐Frequency Changes in ENSO Variance
Geophysical Research Letters
El Niño Southern Oscillation
decadal variability
unsupervised clustering
machine learning
title Contribution of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diversity to Low‐Frequency Changes in ENSO Variance
title_full Contribution of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diversity to Low‐Frequency Changes in ENSO Variance
title_fullStr Contribution of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diversity to Low‐Frequency Changes in ENSO Variance
title_full_unstemmed Contribution of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diversity to Low‐Frequency Changes in ENSO Variance
title_short Contribution of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diversity to Low‐Frequency Changes in ENSO Variance
title_sort contribution of el nino southern oscillation enso diversity to low frequency changes in enso variance
topic El Niño Southern Oscillation
decadal variability
unsupervised clustering
machine learning
url https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL109179
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