Different definitions of links in climate networks may lead to considerably different network topologies. We construct a network from climate records of surface level atmospheric temperature in different geographical sites around the globe using two
commonly used definitions of links. Utilizing detrended fluctuation analysis, shuffled surrogates and separation analysis of maritime and continental records, we find that one of the major influences on the structure of climate networks is due to the auto-correlation in the records, that may introduce spurious links. This may explain why different methods could lead to different climate network topologies.
We construct a network from climate records of atmospheric temperature at surface level, at different geographical sites in the globe, using reanalysis data from years 1948-2010. We find that the network correlates with the North Atlantic Oscillation
(NAO), both locally in the north Atlantic, and through coupling to the southern Pacific Ocean. The existence of tele-connection links between those areas and their stability over time allows us to suggest a possible physical explanation for this phenomenon.
Although anomalous episodical warming of the eastern equatorial Pacific, dubbed El Ni~no by Peruvian fishermen, has major (and occasionally devastating) impacts around the globe, robust forecasting is still limited to about six months ahead. A signif
icant extension of the pre-warming time would be instrumental for avoiding some of the worst damages such as harvest failures in developing countries. Here we introduce a novel avenue towards El Ni~no-prediction based on network methods inspecting emerging teleconnections. Our approach starts from the evidence that a large-scale cooperative mode - linking the El Ni~no-basin (equatorial Pacific corridor) and the rest of the ocean - builds up in the calendar year before the warming event. On this basis, we can develop an efficient 12 months-forecasting scheme, i.e., achieve some doubling of the early-warning period. Our method is based on high-quality observational data as available since 1950 and yields hit rates above 0.5, while false-alarm rates are below 0.1.
The connectivity pattern of networks, which are based on a correlation between ground level temperature time series, shows a dominant dense stripe of links in the southern ocean. We show that statistical categorization of these links yields a clear a
ssociation with the pattern of an atmospheric Rossby wave, one of the major mechanisms associated with the weather system and with planetary scale energy transport. It is shown that alternating densities of negative and positive links (correlations) are arranged in half Rossby wave distances around 3,500 km, 7,000 km and 10,000 km and are aligned with the expected direction of energy flow, distribution of time delays and the seasonality of these waves. It is also shown that long distance links (i.e., of distances larger than 2,000 km) that are associated with Rossby waves are the most dominant in the climate network. Climate networks may thus be used as an efficient new way to detect and analyze Rossby waves, based on reliable and available ground level measurements, in addition to the frequently used 300 hPa reanalysis meridional wind data.
We construct and analyze climate networks based on daily satellite measurements of temperatures and geopotential heights. We show that these networks are stable during time and are similar over different altitudes. Each link in our network is stable
with typical 15% variability. The entire hierarchy of links is about 80% consistent during time. We show that about half of this stability is due to the spatial 2D embedding of the network, and half is due to physical coupling mechanisms. The network stability of equatorial regions is found to be lower compared to the stability of a typical network in non-equatorial regions.
We construct and analyze a climate network which represents the interdependent structure of the climate in different geographical zones and find that the network responds in a unique way to El-Ni~{n}o events. Analyzing the dynamics of the climate net
work shows that when El-Ni~{n}o events begin, the El-Ni~{n}o basin partially loses its influence on its surroundings. After typically three months, this influence is restored while the basin loses almost all dependence on its surroundings and becomes textit{autonomous}. The formation of an autonomous basin is the missing link to understand the seemingly contradicting phenomena of the afore--noticed weakening of the interdependencies in the climate network during El-Ni~{n}o and the known impact of the anomalies inside the El-Ni~{n}o basin on the global climate system.
The temperatures in different zones in the world do not show significant changes due to El-Nino except when measured in a restricted area in the Pacific Ocean. We find, in contrast, that the dynamics of a climate network based on the same temperature
records in various geographical zones in the world is significantly influenced by El-Nino. During El-Nino many links of the network are broken, and the number of surviving links comprises a specific and sensitive measure for El-Nino events. While during non El-Nino periods these links which represent correlations between temperatures in different sites are more stable, fast fluctuations of the correlations observed during El-Nino periods cause the links to break.
