Author(s)

David H. Douglass¹, Robert S. Knox¹, Scott Curtis^2*, Benjamin S. Giese³, Sulagna Ray⁴

¹Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA.
²Department of Geography, Planning, and Environment, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA.
³Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.
⁴Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences Program, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.

Using a newly reported Pacific sea surface temperature data set, we extend a prior study that assigned El Niño episodes to distinct sequences. Within these sequences the episodes are phase-locked to subharmonics of the annual solar irradiance cycle having two- or three-year periodicity. There are 40 El Niño episodes occurring since 1872, each found within one of eighteen such sequences. Our list includes all previously reported events. Three El Niño episodes have already been observed in boreal winters of 2009, 2012 and 2015, illustrating a sequence of 3-year intervals that began in 2008. If the climate system remains in this state, the next El Niño is likely to occur in boreal winter of 2018.

Climate, Climatology, Solar Forcing, Seasonal Effects, El Niño, Phase Locking

Douglass, D. , Knox, R. , Curtis, S. , Giese, B. and Ray, S. (2017) Historical Phase-Locked El Niño Episodes. Atmospheric and Climate Sciences, 7, 48-64. doi: 10.4236/acs.2017.71005.