Earlier [Phys. Rev. E 63, 047201 (2001)] we studied the southern oscillation index (SOI). Our findings tended to favor specific physical models for the El Niño description. The Comment by Metzler [Phys. Rev. E 67, 018201 (2003)] on this publication does not give any argument in favor of another El Niño physical model. In contrast, the Comment points out that statistical properties of the SOI data can be explained with a model based on a linear autoregressive process, but such a modeling does not help in identifying the relevant physical mechanisms.

• Received 15 July 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.67.068201