AGU Chapman Conference on El Niño

Abstract

The AGU Chapman Conference on El Niño was convened by David Enfield (Oregon State University, Corvallis) in Guayaquil, Ecuador, during October 27–31, 1986. This meeting brought together about 130 marine and atmospheric scientists from many developed and developing nations and from widely varied disciplinary backgrounds who share a common interest in the variegated aspects of El Niño research. The conference was organized by AGU under a grant from the National Science Foundation, which funded the U.S.‐based organizational and travel costs for participants from the developed nations. These researchers were mostly from the United States, with a number of others from Europe and Australia. The conference could not possibly have succeeded, however, without the joint sponsorship of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and the South Pacific Permanent Commission (SPPC). These groups financed the local hosting expenses as well as the travel costs for the participants from the developing nations, most of whom came from Latin America. The Instituto Nacional de Pesca, under the able direction of Roberto Jimenez, hosted the meeting and provided local organization, including the invaluable assistance of simultaneous translation in Spanish and English. (About half the participants had Spanish as their primary language, while the other half were more fluent in English).