Systemwide Events Calendar

Atmospheric Sciences Seminar

August 25, 3:15pm - 5:00pm
Mānoa Campus, Virtual Meeting

Theories for Ceaseless El Niño Cycles and its Complexity

Professor Fei-Fei Jin
Department of Atmospheric Sciences
School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology
University of Hawai'i at Manoa

You are invited to our weekly online Atmospheric Sciences Fall 2021 seminars via Zoom meeting.
When: August 25, 2021 at 3:15PM HST

Register in advance for this meeting: https://hawaii.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwlcOmtpz8iGtFAfj1LmB2t-J89CV76hI1s

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Please save this information for future seminars.

As a security precaution, unmuting microphones, starting video, screen share, and using the 'chat' feature will be disabled for those attending the seminar, except for ATMO faculty. If you would like to say something, please use the 'raise hand' feature. The host or a co-host can then enable you to unmute your microphone.

Abstract:
The term El Niño refers to abnormal and significant warm temperatures in a vast upper-ocean water body of the equatorial central to eastern Pacific oceans. It often has significant manifestations near the Peru coast where a few centuries ago, fishermen coined its name as they noted its full strength occurring almost always near the Christmas time. An El Niño event normally lasts over a year and is often followed by the so-called La Niña which is a cold anomaly lasting sometimes longer than El Niño. El Niño and La Niña often alternate and together form 2-7 year irregular cycles dominating the earth’s natural climate variability. They dramatically alter global weather activity patterns and thus have great global impacts. With a brief introduction of this widely known phenomenon, this talk will address the questions about the fundamental mechanisms that are responsible for the genesis of its ceaseless cycles and complexity. By using analogies to explain relevant math concepts, I hope to convey some findings from theoretical studies to delineate a hidden beauty residing in dynamics of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). I may also briefly discuss how understanding of El Niño and its strong global influences may have implications improving climate predictions.