The U.S. CLIVAR ENSO Diversity Working Group was formed in 2012 to clarify, coordinate and synthesize research to achieve a better understanding of ENSO diversity, including surface and sub-surface characteristics, tropical-extratropical teleconnections, physical mechanisms predictability, and relationship with climate change.

ENSO Diversity WG Scientific Objectives:

• Examine the range of ENSO “flavors” with focus upon longitudinal variations of warming, identify basic surface and subsurface characteristics that are robust among different datasets, assess the existence of possible, and distinct precursors to the different flavors, and create a framework that will allow the community to better understand how the interplay of different   oceanic, atmospheric, and coupled processes drive different ENSO flavors and impact their predictability. 
• Examine the performance of the CMIP5 archive in reproducing the best observational estimate of ENSO diversity, and assess its projected changes.

During its first year, the WG is charged with establishing the ability of data sets to reveal a range of ENSO types, and the ability of models to simulate the types revealed.  A community workshop is being planned for fall 2012 to review the representation of ENSO diversity in observational data sets, model analyses of ENSO diversity and basic characteristics of different ENSO types and extra-tropical influences on ENSO diversity, and remote impacts of different ENSO flavors.