IV International Conference on El Niño Southern Oscillation: ENSO in a Warmer Climate planning is well underway

The global impact of El Niño-Southern Oscillation events (ENSO) highlights the need to address ENSO scientific challenges in the context of international climate research, assessments, and operational prediction efforts.  We should also point out that the highest socio-economic impact during strong ENSO events have been traditionally reported in Latin America, Africa and Asia, in developing countries that do not have enough resources to cope to the presence of this extreme events. Given the current progress, uncertainties, and ensuing greenhouse warming, it is timely to ask - what is the current state of understanding of ENSO in terms of its diverse behavior, extremity, impacts, and teleconnections?

As a catalyzing activity in the process to better understand ENSO and its impacts, CLIVAR and CIIFEN are organizing the IV International Conference on El Niño Southern Oscillation: ENSO in a Warmer Climate (ENSO2018). This conference is a follow-on to the III International Conference on ENSO: “Bridging the gaps between Global ENSO Science and regional processes, extremes and impacts” held in November 2014; the Second International “Workshop on ENSO, Decadal Variability and Climate Change in South America: Trends, teleconnections and potential impacts” held in October 2010; and the First International ENSO Conference: “The El Niño phenomenon and its global impact” in May 2005, All held in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

The main goal of the Conference is to review progress on the science of ENSO.  This will include a focus on examining the range of ENSO “flavors,” (especially regarding longitudinal variations of ENSO sea surface warming), assessing precursors to the different flavors, and examining how the different oceanic and atmospheric processes that drive ENSO flavors and impact their predictability may change in a warming world.

After a rigorous selection process the Scientific Committee of ENSO2018 have selected 210 abstracts to be presented during the 3-day event (42 keynote and oral presentations and 168 posters), coming from 36 countries around the world: 

The Conference will provide an opportunity for scientists from a variety of disciplines and countries to present their works, network and become more involved in ENSO science activities. The programme will consist of presentations from invited speakers, oral and poster presentations, spread over six thematic sessions:.

List of Invited Keynote Speakers:





1: ENSO observations, including analysis of recent events

Michael McPhaden


The 2015-16 El Niño and Climate Change

Kim Cobb

Georgia Tech. USA

Advances in paleo-ENSO: A past to future perspective

2: ENSO dynamics

Ken Takahashi


El Niño in the far-eastern Pacific: Concepts, impacts and dynamics

Shayne McGregor

Monas University. Australia

Understanding ENSO Event precursos

3: ENSO and other modes of climate variability (intraseasonal, decadal, centennial)

Matthieu Lengaigne

LOCEAN. France

The role of intraseasonal variability in ENSO

Antonietta Capotondi

University of Colorado. USA

Decadal Variability of ENSO

4: ENSO modeling and prediction

Andrew Wittenberg


ENSO in climate models: Progress and opportunities

Eric Guilyardi


Consensus climate model evaluation for end users: an example with ENSO metrics

5: ENSO impacts and Regional processes

Boris Dewitte


Air-sea interactions off Peru and Ecuador and the development of Eastern Pacific El Nino events

Jose Marengo

INPE. Brazil

Socio-climatic impacts of El Nino in Tropical South America East of the Andes

6: Climate information and sustainable development, and the future of climate and ocean science

Rodney Martinez

CIIFEN. Ecuador

Keeping climate science fundable: Challenges and opportunities of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Jose Santos


Towards an ENSO Early Warning System in Ecuador: Lessons learned


























Registrations are still open at: http://www.ensoconference2018.org/enso_registration.html