This is an excellent work, a new way of thinking about el Niño. I do think, that if you ask the normal people, what is El Niño? all of them will say, is RAIN!!! I have already done in Ecuador, the reply was that 100%. Now what happens when the news talk about El Niño and there is not rain, like now and 2014, we the scientists lose credibility, don't we?. If El Niño stays in area 3.4, simply there is not El Niño or there is not any visible consequence. Therefore, el Niño got to be defined also in areas 1-2. I would think in the typical indexes such as: 1) Delta T, 2) Winds, 3) Thermocline depth, 4) ZCIT position, 5) Sea level. About what is going on 1-2 now, SST anomalies are decreasing quite consistently and getting away from those recorded on 1997. So then, can we say there a Godzilla on the way? Good article!!!