A Possible Effect of an Increase in the Warm-Pool SST on the Magnitude of El Niño Warming

El Nin o warming corresponds to an eastward extension of the western Pacific warm pool; one thus naturally wonders whether an increase in the warm pool SST will result in stronger El Nin os. This question, though elementary, has not drawn much attention. The observation that the two strongest El Nin os in the instrumental record occurred during the last two decades, when the warm pool SST was anomalously high, however, has added some urgency to answering this question. Here observational and numerical results that support a positive answer to this question are shown.