The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Recharge Oscillator Conceptual Model: Achievements and Future Prospects
Abstract The recharge oscillator (RO) is a simple mathematical model of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). In its original form, it is based on two ordinary differential equations that describe the evolution of equatorial Pacific sea surface temperature and oceanic heat content. These equations make use of physical principles that operate in nature: (a) the air‐sea interaction loop known as the Bjerknes feedback, (b) a delayed oceanic feedback arising from the slow oceanic response to winds within the equatorial band, (c) state‐dependent stochastic forcing from fast wind variations known as westerly wind bursts (WWBs), and (d) nonlinearities such as those related to deep atmospheric convection and oceanic advection. These elements can be combined at different levels of RO complexity. The RO reproduces ENSO key properties in observations and climate models: its amplitude, dominant timescale, seasonality, and warm/cold phases amplitude asymmetry. We discuss the RO in the context of timely research questions. First, the RO can be extended to account for ENSO pattern diversity (with events that either peak in the central or eastern Pacific). Second, the core RO hypothesis that ENSO is governed by tropical Pacific dynamics is discussed from the perspective of influences from other basins. Finally, we discuss the RO relevance for studying ENSO response to climate change, and underline that accounting for ENSO diversity, nonlinearities, and better links of RO parameters to the long term mean state are important research avenues. We end by proposing important RO‐based research problems.
Authors
- Jing‐Jia Luo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2181-0638)
- Chunzai Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7611-0308)
- Malte F. Stuecker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8355-0662)
- Samantha Stevenson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1223-8521)
- Licheng Geng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-4415-5343)
- Sulian Thual (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4937-5626)
- Andrew T. Wittenberg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1680-8963)
- Antonietta Capotondi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3594-5472)
- Jérôme Vialard (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6876-3766)
- Soon‐Il An (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0003-429X)
- Shineng Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3791-5389)
- Michael J. McPhaden (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8423-5805)
- Shayne McGregor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3222-7042)
- Wenju Cai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6520-0829)
- Tao Geng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3385-7110)
- Alexey V. Fedorov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5428-1117)
- Fangyu Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-5878-8363)
- Xianghui Fang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1210-0055)
- Yann Planton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9664-8180)
- Sen Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5597-1109)
- Dietmar Dommenget (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5129-7719)
- Fei‐Fei Jin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5101-2296)
- Soong‐Ki Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6586-780X)
- Takeshi Izumo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9617-2234)
- Priyamvada Priya (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1285-8093)
- Jong‐Seong Kug (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2251-2579)
- Matthieu Lengaigne (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0044-036X)
- Bastien Pagli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-0706-7865)
- Nan Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2176-6123)
Institutions
- University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (US)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Planetary Science Institute (US)
- University of Hawaii System (US)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Seoul National University (KR)
- Ifremer (FR)
- University of California, Santa Barbara (US)
- Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (US)
- Duke University (US)
- Xiamen University (CN)
- NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (US)
- Yonsei University (KR)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Université de Montpellier (FR)
- Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (CN)
- Fudan University (CN)
- NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (US)
- Yale University (US)
- Sorbonne Université (FR)
- Institute of Oceanology (CN)
- South China Sea Institute Of Oceanology (CN)
- Mercator Ocean (France) (FR)
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science (AU)
- NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory (US)
- Marine Biodiversity Exploitation and Conservation (FR)
- Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (FR)
- Institute of Earth Environment (CN)
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR)
- Laoshan Laboratory
- Monash University (AU)
- Ocean University of China (CN)
- University of French Polynesia (PF)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Reviews of Geophysics
- Published
- 2025-03-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1029/2024rg000843
- Citations
- 24
- Primary Topic
- Climate variability and models
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 26.53
Funders
- Office of Naval Research