Modes of climate variability such as the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) have important implications for how climate risks are understood and prepared for. This article establishes a new critical geography of ENSO research practice through examination of the production of ENSO science in three U.S. research centers, chosen for their dominance in ENSO knowledge production and their location outside of “teleconnection” regions. Scientists in these institutions revealed multiple and sometimes conflicting conceptualizations of ENSO and expressed disagreement over which components are most significant for research and wider society. Yet two factors are revealed that tend ENSO science toward the reductive: the increasing conceptualization of ENSO as a modeling problem associated with the importance of general circulation models and an institutional drive for simplicity in indexes and definitions by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Both have implications for disaster management and the broader geographies of risk, by reducing a multifaceted phenomenon into a set of indexes, definitions, and methodologies. The article thus argues for a new research agenda on the critical geographies of ENSO research practice, particularly focusing on the role of institutional priorities in constraining the practice and presentation of science.

厄尔尼诺-南方涛动 (ENSO) 等气候变率模式对如何理解和应对气候风险具有重要意义。本文通过考察三个美国研究中心的 ENSO 科学成果，建立了一个新的 ENSO 研究实践的批判性地理，这些研究中心之所以选择这些研究中心是因为它们在 ENSO 知识生产中的主导地位以及它们在“远程连接”区域之外的位置。这些机构的科学家揭示了 ENSO 的多种甚至有时相互冲突的概念，并对哪些组件对研究和更广泛的社会最重要表示不同意见。然而，有两个因素揭示了使 ENSO 科学趋向于还原的两个因素：ENSO 越来越多地被概念化为与大气环流模型的重要性相关的建模问题，以及国家海洋和大气管理局简化索引和定义的制度驱动。通过将多方面的现象简化为一组指标、定义和方法，两者都对灾害管理和更广泛的风险地域产生了影响。因此，本文主张对 ENSO 研究实践的关键地理制定一个新的研究议程，特别关注机构优先事项在限制科学实践和呈现方面的作用。通过将多方面的现象简化为一组指标、定义和方法。因此，本文主张对 ENSO 研究实践的关键地理制定一个新的研究议程，特别关注机构优先事项在限制科学实践和呈现方面的作用。通过将多方面的现象简化为一组指标、定义和方法。因此，本文主张对 ENSO 研究实践的关键地理制定一个新的研究议程，特别关注机构优先事项在限制科学实践和呈现方面的作用。