Amplitude, duration, variability, and seasonal frequency analysis of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation

As the climate is rapidly changing already, it is important to understand how the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has changed in recent decades, and this can shed light on future ENSO characteristics. The ERA5 data were used to analyze the amplitude, duration, variability, and seasonal frequency of El Nino and La Nina, and to investigate whether there have been changes in the amplitude and duration of these events during the period 1959-2021. During this period, variability in the amplitude of El Nino events has been much higher than that of La Nina events. Rainfall anomalies in the Nino 3.4 region also show much higher variability during El Nino compared with La Nina events, while variability in the duration of El Nino events has been much lower than that of La Nina events. The highest frequency of El Nino events is in boreal autumn and winter, while their lowest frequency is in boreal spring and summer. The frequency of La Nina events also varies seasonally, with the highest frequency in boreal autumn, but the lowest frequency in the late boreal spring to mid-summer. Both El Nino and La Nina reach the peak amplitude toward the end of the calendar year, while their minimum amplitudes occur in boreal spring. Significant positive and negative sea surface temperature (SST) trends are identified in the western and eastern tropical South Pacific, respectively, implying the strengthening of the zonal SST gradient in the tropical Pacific during the period 1959-2021. Despite that, the amplitude and duration of El Nino and La Nina events have not changed significantly over the past six decades, implying that these ENSO characteristics have not been largely influenced by a climate change signal.