El Nino/La Nina Cycles

[Ptarmigan]

Is there any way to find out if the year was either El Nino, La Nina, or Neither going back to before 1950? The El Nino/La Nina data I have seen go back to 1950, not before.

[DrCloud]

There's some information in Figure 3 of this paper.

You've probably seen the NOAA/CDC (or whatever they're called now) time series -- this is the one that starts at 1950. Datasets that extend back farther aren't as solid as what was used in that more recent time series, though, especially if you're looking for quantitative results. HPH

[Ptarmigan]

There's some information in Figure 3 of this paper.

You've probably seen the NOAA/CDC (or whatever they're called now) time series -- this is the one that starts at 1950. Datasets that extend back farther aren't as solid as what was used in that more recent time series, though, especially if you're looking for quantitative results. HPH

Thanks. I am interested in it because of hurricane seasons before 1950. I know there were active ones that time, among them 1933.

[Ptarmigan]

I found this El Nino data courtesy of Japan Meteorological Agency.
El Nino Data
Read Me For The El Nino Data

[AussieMark]

some years that were el nino years are:

1902/03
1905/06
1911/12
1913/14
1914/15
1919/20
1925/26
1940/41
1941/42
1946/47

[Aslkahuna]

CPC has SOI data in tabular form going back to 1882 in their Monitoring and Index section on their site. Just have to know how to dig it out.

Steve

[Ptarmigan]

some years that were el nino years are:

1902/03
1905/06
1911/12
1913/14
1914/15
1919/20
1925/26
1940/41
1941/42
1946/47

Not surprised by 1914. Only one storm was recorded, which I find highly suspect because there were probably a lot more, but they were likely fish and also World War I started. I looked at 1946 through 1947 and it appears to be a La Nina year based on the data. Just curious, how do you determine if there is an El Nino or La Nina year?

[wxmann_91]

BoM has SOI data going back to 1876. Just found it today.

http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/soihtm1.shtml

[AussieMark]

some years that were el nino years are:

1902/03
1905/06
1911/12
1913/14
1914/15
1919/20
1925/26
1940/41
1941/42
1946/47

Not surprised by 1914. Only one storm was recorded, which I find highly suspect because there were probably a lot more, but they were likely fish and also World War I started. I looked at 1946 through 1947 and it appears to be a La Nina year based on the data. Just curious, how do you determine if there is an El Nino or La Nina year?

based on SOI readings

i.e

1946
Mar: -2.0
APr: -9.6
May: -11.4
Jun: -9.6
Jul: -10.2
Aug: -4.4
Sep: -16.0
Oct: -12.3
Nov: -1.4
Dec: -5.5

1947
Jan: -4.9
Feb: -4.1

also during this event Australia had a strong Drought which is consistent with a El Nino event