Diaz, H. F., and G. N. Kiladis, 1992: Atmospheric teleconnections associated with the extreme phases of the Southern Oscillation. In El Niño: Historical and Paleoclimatic Aspects of the Southern Oscillation, H. F. Diaz and V. Markgraf (Eds.), Cambridge University Press, 7-28.
An overview is presented of the principal climatic characteristics associated with the development of warm and cold phases of the ocean-atmospheric phenomenon known as El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and the most salient large-scale teleconnection features related to those extremes. Besides giving the reader some appreciation of the typical climatic patterns in different parts of the globe during the extreme ENSO phases, we have made an effort to illustrate some of the event-to-event variability inherent in various climatic indices associated with this phenomenon. ENSO is not a stationary system; there are substantial differences between events that are reflected in a variety of ENSO indices. It is shown that even for a particular set of ENSO ' measures, the association among such indices may vary with time. It is important to keep this in mind when analysing long-term associations with individual proxy variables of ENSO activity, such as tropical corals or glacier varves.