IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/wirecc/v6y2015i1p17-34.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Investigating El Niño‐Southern Oscillation and society relationships

Author

Listed:
  • Stephen E. Zebiak
  • Ben Orlove
  • Ángel G. Muñoz
  • Catherine Vaughan
  • James Hansen
  • Tara Troy
  • Madeleine C. Thomson
  • Allyza Lustig
  • Samantha Garvin

Abstract

Throughout at least the past several centuries, El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has played a significant role in human response to climate. Over time, increased attention on ENSO has led to a better understanding of both the physical mechanisms, and the environmental and societal consequences of the phenomenon. The prospects for seasonal climate forecasting emerged from ENSO studies, and were first pursued in ENSO studies. In this paper, we review ENSO's impact on society, specifically with regard to agriculture, water, and health; we also explore the extent to which ENSO‐related forecasts are used to inform decision making in these sectors. We find that there are significant differences in the uptake of forecasts across sectors, with the highest use in agriculture, intermediate use in water resources management, and the lowest in health. Forecast use is low in areas where ENSO linkages to climate are weak, but the strength of this linkage alone does not guarantee use. Moreover, the differential use of ENSO forecasts by sector shows the critical role of institutions that work at the boundary between science and society. In a long‐term iterative process requiring continual maintenance, these organizations serve to enhance the salience, credibility, and legitimacy of forecasts and related climate services. WIREs Clim Change 2015, 6:17–34. doi: 10.1002/wcc.294 This article is categorized under: Climate, History, Society, Culture > World Historical Perspectives Social Status of Climate Change Knowledge > Climate Science and Decision Making

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen E. Zebiak & Ben Orlove & Ángel G. Muñoz & Catherine Vaughan & James Hansen & Tara Troy & Madeleine C. Thomson & Allyza Lustig & Samantha Garvin, 2015. "Investigating El Niño‐Southern Oscillation and society relationships," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 6(1), pages 17-34, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:wirecc:v:6:y:2015:i:1:p:17-34
    DOI: 10.1002/wcc.294
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.294
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/wcc.294?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hernan Botero & Andrew P. Barnes, 2022. "The effect of ENSO on common bean production in Colombia: a time series approach," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 14(6), pages 1417-1430, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:wirecc:v:6:y:2015:i:1:p:17-34. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1757-7799 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.