Single-year and double-year El Ninos

Compared with well documented and frequent occurrence of multi-year La Nina, double-year El Nino is less frequent and has not been well investigated. Both of them are a discrepancy from the cyclic behavior of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation and deserve investigation. Here, we demonstrate the diversity of single- and double-year El Nino events in their strengths, flavors, as well as associations with the recharge/discharge processes. The possible different climate impacts are also discussed. During 1950-2021, 75% of El Nino events persist for one year, and 25% of them last for two years. Both central and eastern Pacific type El Ninos occur in the single-year and double-year El Ninos with various strengths. On average, there is no relationship between the initial time and duration of an El Nino event. Compared with the single-year El Ninos, the averaged warm water volume (WWV) is larger in the peak and declines slower for the double-year El Ninos, suggesting that a persistently recharged heat condition of the equatorial Pacific is a precondition for the emergence of a second-year El Nino. The faster decline of WWV in the single-year El Ninos is associated with the in-phase decrease of its intraseasonal-interseasonal and interannual components, while the slower decline of WWV in the double-year El Ninos is determined by the interannual component. In addition, the single-year and double-year El Nino may have different impacts on regional climate.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates the diversity of single- and double-year El Nino events in their strengths, flavors, as well as associations with the recharge/discharge processes. Both types occur in the central and eastern Pacific, with double-year El Nino showing unique characteristics in warm water volume.