The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Recharge Oscillator Conceptual Model: Achievements and Future Prospects

Vialard, J.; Jin, F.‐F.; McPhaden, M. J.; Fedorov, A.; Cai, W.; An, S.‐I.; Dommenget, D.; Fang, X.; Stuecker, M. F.; Wang, C.; Wittenberg, A.; Zhao, S.; Liu, F.; Kim, S.‐K.; Planton, Y.; Geng, T.; Lengaigne, M.; Capotondi, A.; Chen, N.; Geng, L.; Hu, S.; Izumo, T.; Kug, J.‐S.; Luo, J.‐J.; McGregor, S.; Pagli, B.; Priya, P.; Stevenson, S.; Thual, S.

doi:10.1029/2024RG000843

i

The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Recharge Oscillator Conceptual Model: Achievements and Future Prospects

2025
By Vialard, J. ; Jin, F.‐F. ; McPhaden, M. J. ; ...
Series: PMEL contribution no. 5662

Details

Journal Title:

Reviews of Geophysics
Personal Author:

Vialard, J. ; Jin, F.‐F. ; McPhaden, M. J. ; Fedorov, A. ; Cai, W. ; An, S.‐I. ; Dommenget, D. ; Fang, X. ; Stuecker, M. F. ; Wang, C. ; Wittenberg, A. ; Zhao, S. ; Liu, F. ; Kim, S.‐K. ; Planton, Y. ; Geng, T. ; Lengaigne, M. ; Capotondi, A. ; Chen, N. ; Geng, L. ; Hu, S. ; Izumo, T. ; Kug, J.‐S. ; Luo, J.‐J. ; McGregor, S. ; Pagli, B. ; Priya, P. ; Stevenson, S. ; Thual, S.
NOAA Program & Office:

OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) ; CIRES (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences) ; GFDL (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory) ; PMEL (Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory) ; PSL (Physical Sciences Laboratory)
Description:

The recharge oscillator (RO) is a simple mathematical model of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). In its original form, it is based on two ordinary differential equations that describe the evolution of equatorial Pacific sea surface temperature and oceanic heat content. These equations make use of physical principles that operate in nature: (a) the air‐sea interaction loop known as the Bjerknes feedback, (b) a delayed oceanic feedback arising from the slow oceanic response to winds within the equatorial band, (c) state‐dependent stochastic forcing from fast wind variations known as westerly wind bursts (WWBs), and (d) nonlinearities such as those related to deep atmospheric convection and oceanic advection. These elements can be combined at different levels of RO complexity. The RO reproduces ENSO key properties in observations and climate models: its amplitude, dominant timescale, seasonality, and warm/cold phases amplitude asymmetry. We discuss the RO in the context of timely research questions. First, the RO can be extended to account for ENSO pattern diversity (with events that either peak in the central or eastern Pacific). Second, the core RO hypothesis that ENSO is governed by tropical Pacific dynamics is discussed from the perspective of influences from other basins. Finally, we discuss the RO relevance for studying ENSO response to climate change, and underline that accounting for ENSO diversity, nonlinearities, and better links of RO parameters to the long term mean state are important research avenues. We end by proposing important RO‐based research problems.
Source:

Reviews of Geophysics, 63(1)
Series:

PMEL contribution no. 5662
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1029/2024RG000843
ISSN:

8755-1209 ; 1944-9208
Format:

pdf
Publisher:

American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Document Type:

Journal Article
License:

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Rights Information:

CC BY
Compliance:

Submitted
Main Document Checksum:

urn:sha-512:1a6d8a3ae87efded50de915af95155f50ae700ea54c86f35638968752031de923b8d0be1766df927a359c0a4e17bfbd42fb1196e1e9e32575a7069d547b807a9
Download URL:

https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/71250/noaa_71250_DS1.pdf
File Type:

[PDF - 6.54 MB ]

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