Links between global ocean surface temperatures (SST) and the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) have long been hypothesized and explored scientifically. In this project, I correlated globally interpolated SST values from NOAA’s Optimum Interpolated SST data product with NOAA’s Niño 3.4 ENSO index.

Unsurprisingly, Central and Eastern Pacific SST show strong positive correlation with positive ENSO phase, while North, West, and Southern Pacific SST display a strong negative correlation with positive ENSO phase. More interesting are the lower magnitude correlations with the Southern Ocean in Oceania and the Indian Oceans, illustrating ENSO is not quite as simple as a purely Central Pacific perspective might suggest.