PEAC Background Information

Service Areas

The US-Affiliated Pacific Island (USAPI) areas in PEAC's primary service area include:

• The State of Hawaii,
• The Territory of American Samoa,
• The Territory of Guam,
• The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI),
• The states of Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM),
• The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), and
• The Republic of Palau.

Products

PEAC produces and distributes many information products related to ENSO and it's affects on the Pacific Islands. The Pacific ENSO Update quarterly newsletter is published every mid-January, May, August and October. Special edition bulletins are distributed at the Editor's discretion.

Seasonal sea level forecasts are issued in each quarterly edition of the Pacific ENSO Update newsletter. Additional sea level information will be available on the PEAC Sea Level page (coming soon).

General climate information (including average seasonal rainfall) for each of the USAPI areas can be found by clicking on the desired location on the map.

Research

A major focus of ongoing applied research at PEAC is the investigation of statistical correlations between ENSO and sea level. Seasonal sea level forecasts, discussion and verification are issued every 3 months in the Pacific ENSO Update newsletter.

Statistical studies on regional climatology and the ENSO cycle are underway at the University of Guam (UOG) and the University of Hawaii (UH). This cooperative research activity is being led by the Water and Environmental Research Institute (WERI) of the UOG, through a sub-grant from PEAC. The studies aim to develop ENSO-related impact criteria for the Islands, through examination of:

• Historical floods and droughts, their causes, impacts on agriculture, and other information concerning water resources in each regional area;
• The pattern of severe weather phenomena such as hurricanes and typhoons in each regional area;
• The distribution of commercially important fish species within each regional area, in cooperation with NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service; and
• Relationships with the ENSO cycle, with an aim for developing predictive forecasts of 6 - 18 month lead times for the region.

Cooperative Partnerships

The Pacific ENSO Applications Climate Center works closely with similar international programs in the Pacific region, including the climate programs at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) in New Zealand, and the South Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP) climate office in Western Samoa.

Pacific ENSO Applications Climate Center Last Updated: December 12, 2007 peac@noaa.gov