Climate Indices
Climate indices are simple diagnostic quantities that are used to characterize an aspect of a geophysical system such as a circulation pattern. They track droughts, ENSO events, wind patterns, internal modes of climate variability, and extreme events like wildfires and heatwaves. Climate indices play a key role in climate monitoring and prediction. The climate index overview page summarizes the philosophy of climate indices.
To find a specific climate index, jump to the search box below or click your desired index from among the blue sub-category buttons.
To see only the indices with in-depth commentary, select the "Datasets with guidance" button when using the search box.
Dataset Overviews
Climate datasets
![Asymmetry and Diversity in the pattern, amplitude and duration of El Niño and La Niña Asymmetry and Diversity in the pattern, amplitude and duration of El Niño and La Niña](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/Santoso-snippet.png?itok=FFNoG7X6)
Years of record
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El Niño and La Niña, the two phases of ENSO, are sometimes described as opposites. However, there are asymmetries in their spatial structure, amplitude, duration and…
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Formats
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Timestep
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Domain
- Tropics
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Collections
- N/A
Experts contributing reviews
- Santoso, Agus
![Meridional Modes and their indices Meridional Modes and their indices](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/NPMM_schematic.png?itok=_YAO699f)
Years of record
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In each of the world’s tropical ocean basins, year-to-year climate variability is primarily governed by fluctuations in the zonal sea surface temperature (SST) gradient and…
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Formats
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Timestep
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Domain
- Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean
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Collections
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Experts contributing reviews
- Amaya, Dillon
![Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO): Definition and Indices Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO): Definition and Indices](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/PDO-pattern.png?itok=tGsYIU7B)
Years of record
- to
The Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) is defined by the leading pattern (EOF) of sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the North Pacific basin (typically, polewards of…
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Formats
- ascii
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Timestep
- Monthly
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Domain
- Pacific Ocean
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Collections
- N/A
Experts contributing reviews
- Deser, Clara | Trenberth, Kevin
![Multivariate ENSO Index Multivariate ENSO Index](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/meiv2.timeseries.png?itok=AqHSCIIz)
Years of record
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The Multivariate ENSO Index (MEI) is said to capture a more holistic representation of the atmospheric and oceanic anomalies that occur during ENSO events than do single-…
Main variables and Earth System components
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Formats
- ascii
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Timestep
- Monthly
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Domain
- Pacific Ocean
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Collections
- Climate Analysis Section (CAS) Data Catalog
Experts contributing reviews
- N/A
![Nino SST Indices (Nino 1+2, 3, 3.4, 4; ONI and TNI) Nino SST Indices (Nino 1+2, 3, 3.4, 4; ONI and TNI)](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/oni.monthly.smoo_stro.png?itok=HR_SsTzH)
Years of record
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There are several indices used to monitor the tropical Pacific, all of which are based on sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies averaged across a given region. …
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Formats
- ascii
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Timestep
- Monthly
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Domain
- Pacific Ocean, Tropics
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Collections
- Climate Analysis Section (CAS) Data Catalog
Experts contributing reviews
- Trenberth, Kevin
![timeseries of signal and noise in the SOI](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2023-09/soi3.gif?itok=jYDJ17xv)
Years of record
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The Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) is a time series used to characterize the large scale sea level pressure (SLP) patterns in the tropical Pacific. Monthly mean SLP at…
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Timestep
- Monthly
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Domain
- Australia, Pacific Ocean, Tropics
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Collections
- Climate Analysis Section (CAS) Data Catalog
Experts contributing reviews
- Trenberth, Kevin
![Amundsen Sea Low indices Amundsen Sea Low indices](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/Hosking1-asl_index-v2_region.png?itok=Pddn85w4)
Years of record
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The Amundsen Sea Low (ASL) is a climatological low pressure center located over the extreme southern Pacific Ocean, off the coast of West Antarctica. Atmospheric…
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Timestep
- Monthly, Seasonal, Annual
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Collections
- N/A
Experts contributing reviews
- Hosking, Scott
![U.S. Climate Extremes Index (CEI) U.S. Climate Extremes Index (CEI)](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/US-climate-extremes-index.png?itok=Mm5-1eoR)
Years of record
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The U.S. Climate Extremes Index (CEI) was first presented in 1995 as a framework for quantifying observed changes in climate within the contiguous United States. At…
Main variables and Earth System components
Atmosphere Air Temperature Maximum Air Temperature Minimum Air Temperature Precipitation Wind Land Drought-
Formats
- ascii
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Timestep
- Monthly, Seasonal, Annual
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Domain
- North America
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Collections
- N/A
Experts contributing reviews
- Gleason, Karin
![Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO) Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO)](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/AMOindex-Zhang.png?itok=A0P62TAr)
Years of record
- to
The Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO) has been identified as a coherent mode of natural variability occurring in the North Atlantic Ocean with an estimated period of…
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Timestep
- Monthly, Decadal
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Collections
- Climate Analysis Section (CAS) Data Catalog
Experts contributing reviews
- Trenberth, Kevin | Zhang, Rong
![MJO: Madden-Julian Oscillation Diagnostics MJO: Madden-Julian Oscillation Diagnostics](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2022-03/teaser_images_613.png?itok=ecXka0uX)
Years of record
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"The Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) is the largest element of the intraseasonal (30–90 days) variability in the tropical atmosphere. It is a large-scale coupling between…
Main variables and Earth System components
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Formats
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Timestep
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Domain
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Collections
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Experts contributing reviews
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