The ten El Ni o events in this record are composited, and the robustness of the features of this composite is tested. Strong SLPA signals occur in the eastern south Pacific and around Australia in many events, but the behavior varies greatly from event to event. Some events show interesting signals in the Indian and Atlantic oceans, but the behavior is not sufficiently general to be a statistically meaningful element of the composite. The largest signals in the composite occur in the eastern equatorial and west-central north Pacific and not in the southern hemisphere. Thus, the large scale SLP variations associated with El Ni o periods are not dominated by the classical Southern Oscillation.
Little evidence is found for phase propagation of the signal in El Ni o years.
Outline of Paper 1. Data and smoothing 3. The 1946-1993 composite c. Schematic event 5. Time Series 6.