[Text Source: Prashant Sardeshmukh and Catherine Smith, "Bivariate EnSo Timeseries or the
"BEST" ENSO Index", http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/people/cathy.smith/best/ ]
[Note change in SST dataset. We are now using the Hadley SST as the GISST is no longer available and the Hadley is considered a better dataset.]
The BEST index was designed to be simple to calculate and to provide a long time period ENSO index for research purposes. Nino 3.4 has traditionally been used as a measure of ENSO strength in the tropical Pacific. However, it's use alone neglects explicit atmospheric processes. By adding the SOI or Southern Oscillation Index (the pressure difference between Tahiti and Darwin), these processes are more directly included. In addition, older SST values are at least partially reconstructed and not explicitly measured. By including the SOI, which is better measured historically, the effect of biases in the SST data introduced by the reconstruction technique are reduced. A more detailed explanation how the index was created is available. Based on 1871-2001 SST and SOI indices
A more detailed explanation how the index was
created is availablev here:
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/people/cathy.smith/best/
Purpose:
Not Available
Supplemental_Information:
REFERENCE:
Smith, C.A. and P. Sardeshmukh
2000
The Effect of ENSO on the Intraseasonal Variance of Surface Temperature in Winter
International J. of Climatology
20
1543-1557
Time_Period_of_Content:
Time_Period_Information:
Range_of_Dates/Times:
Beginning_Date: 18710101
Ending_Date: Unknown
Currentness_Reference:Unknown
Status:
Progress: In Work
Maintenance_and_Update_Frequency: As needed
Spatial_Domain:
Description_of_Geographic_Extent:
Bounding_Coordinates:
West_Bounding_Coordinate: -180.0
East_Bounding_Coordinate: 180.0
North_Bounding_Coordinate: 40.0
South_Bounding_Coordinate: -45.0
Keywords:
Theme:
Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: GCMD SCIENCE PARAMETERS
Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: ANCILLARY KEYWORDS
Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: ISO TOPIC CATEGORY
Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: DATA SET LANGUAGE
Theme_Keyword: EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN TEMPERATURE > SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE
Theme_Keyword: EARTH SCIENCE > CLIMATE INDICATORS > ATMOSPHERIC/OCEAN INDICATORS > TELECONNECTIONS > EL NINO SOUTHERN OSCILLATION (ENSO) > BEST ENSO INDEX
Theme_Keyword: EARTH SCIENCE > CLIMATE INDICATORS > ATMOSPHERIC/OCEAN INDICATORS > TELECONNECTIONS > BIVARIATE ENSO TIMESERIES INDEX > BEST ENSO INDEX
