This study presents an overview of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon and Pacific decadal variability (PDV) simulated in a multicentury preindustrial control integration of the NCAR Community Climate System Model version 4 (CCSM4) at nominal 1° latitude–longitude resolution. Several aspects of ENSO are improved in CCSM4 compared to its predecessor CCSM3, including the lengthened period (3–6 yr), the larger range of amplitude and frequency of events, and the longer duration of La Niña compared to El Niño. However, the overall magnitude of ENSO in CCSM4 is overestimated by ~30%. The simulated ENSO exhibits characteristics consistent with the delayed/recharge oscillator paradigm, including correspondence between the lengthened period and increased latitudinal width of the anomalous equatorial zonal wind stress. Global seasonal atmospheric teleconnections with accompanying impacts on precipitation and temperature are generally well simulated, although the wintertime deepening of the Aleutian low erroneously persists into spring. The vertical structure of the upper-ocean temperature response to ENSO in the north and south Pacific displays a realistic seasonal evolution, with notable asymmetries between warm and cold events. The model shows evidence of atmospheric circulation precursors over the North Pacific associated with the “seasonal footprinting mechanism,” similar to observations. Simulated PDV exhibits a significant spectral peak around 15 yr, with generally realistic spatial pattern and magnitude. However, PDV linkages between the tropics and extratropics are weaker than observed.

Physical processes that are responsible for the asymmetric transition processes between El Niño and La Niña events are investigated by using observational data and physical models to examine the nonlinear atmospheric response to SST. The air–sea coupled system of ENSO is able to remain in a weak, cold event for up to 2 yr, while the system of a relatively warm event turns into a cold phase. Through analysis of the oceanic observational data, it is found that there is a strong difference in thermocline variations in relation to surface zonal wind anomalies in the equatorial Pacific (EP) during the mature-to-decaying phase of ENSO. The atmospheric response for the warm phase of ENSO causes a rapid reduction of the EP westerlies in boreal winter, which play a role in hastening the following ENSO transition through the generation of upwelling oceanic Kelvin waves. However, the anomalous EP easterlies in the cold phase persist to the subsequent spring, which tends to counteract the turnabout from the cold to warm phase of ENSO. A suite of idealized atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) experiments are performed by imposing two different ENSO-related SST anomalies, which have equal amplitudes but opposite signs. The nonlinear climate response in the AGCM is found at the mature-to-decaying phase of ENSO that closely resembles the observations, including a zonal and meridional shift in the equatorial positions of the atmospheric wind. By using a simple ocean model, it is determined that the asymmetric responses of the equatorial zonal wind result in different recovery times of the thermocline in the eastern Pacific. Thus, the differences in transition processes between the warm and cold ENSO event are fundamentally due to the nonlinear atmospheric response to SST, which originates from the distribution of climatological SST and its seasonal changes. By including the asymmetric wind responses the intermediate air–sea coupled model herein demonstrates that the essential elements of the redevelopment of La Niña arise from the nonlinear atmospheric response to SST anomalies.

El Niño and La Niña exhibit significant asymmetry not only in their spatial structure but also in their duration. Most El Niños terminate rapidly after maturing near the end of the calendar year, whereas many La Niñas persist into the following year and often reintensify in boreal winter. Through atmospheric general circulation model experiments, it is shown that the nonlinear response of atmospheric deep convection to the polarity of equatorial Pacific sea surface temperature anomalies causes an asymmetric evolution of surface wind anomalies over the far western Pacific around the mature phase of El Niño and La Niña. Because of the eastward displacement of precipitation anomalies in the equatorial Pacific during El Niño compared to La Niña, surface winds in the western Pacific are more affected by SST forcing outside the equatorial Pacific, which acts to terminate the Pacific event.

The impact of strong tropical volcanic eruptions (SVEs) on the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and its phase dependency is investigated using a coupled general circulation model (CGCM). This paper investigates the response of ENSO to an idealized SVE forcing, producing a peak perturbation of global-mean surface shortwave radiation larger than −6.5 W m−2. Radiative forcing due to volcanic aerosols injected into the stratosphere induces tropical surface cooling around the volcanic forcing peak. Identical-twin forecast experiments of an ENSO-neutral year in response to an SVE forcing show an El Niño–like warming lagging one year behind the peak forcing. In addition to a reduced role of the mean subsurface water upwelling (known as the dynamical thermostat mechanism), the rapid land surface cooling around the Maritime Continent weakens the equatorial Walker circulation, contributing to the positive zonal gradient of sea surface temperature (SST) and precipitation anomalies over the equatorial Pacific. Since the warm and cold phases of ENSO exhibit significant asymmetry in their transition and duration, the impact of a SVE forcing on El Niño and La Niña is also investigated. In the warm phase of ENSO, the prediction skill of the SVE-forced experiments rapidly drops approximately six months after the volcanic peak. Since the SVE significantly facilitates the duration of El Niño, the following transition from warm to cold ENSO is disrupted. The impact of SVE forcing on La Niña is, however, relatively weak. These results imply that the intensity of a dynamical thermostat-like response to a SVE could be dependent on the phase of ENSO.