Speaker: Dan Vimont, UW Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Scicnces
Abstract: This talk will provide a brief history of our understanding of the El Nino / Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomena from the late 1800's through the present. The talk will highlight how advances in our observational networks and theoretical understanding of the tropical atmosphere and ocean - advances that were not necessarily motivated by a desire to understand ENSO - have shaped the development of ENSO theory. Finally, I will discuss an emerging shift in our current understanding of ENSO variability from the perception of ENSO as a linearly unstable mode of variability to thinking of ENSO as a linearly stable phenomenon that experiences transient growth through non-normal processes.