The backbone of the climate network
Open accessAbstract
We propose a method to reconstruct and analyze a complex network from data generated by a spatio-temporal dynamical system, relying on the nonlinear mutual information of time series analysis and betweenness centrality of the complex network theory. We show that this approach reveals a rich internal structure in complex climate networks constructed from reanalysis and model surface air temperature data. Our novel method uncovers peculiar wave-like structures of high-energy flow, that we relate to global surface ocean currents. This points to a major role of the oceanic surface circulation in coupling and stabilizing the global temperature field in the long-term mean (140 years for the model run and 60 years for reanalysis data). We find that these results cannot be obtained using classical linear methods of multivariate data analysis, and have ensured their robustness by intensive significance testing.
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Most climate networks assume single-variable networks, while the climate system is multivariate.
“linear correlation, 6,18 mutual information, 19 synchronization, 20 assume single-variable networks, while the climate system is a multivariate one.”
From A Big Data Guide to Understanding Climate Change: The Case for Theory-Guided Data Science (2014) · cites this paper as [19]
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The structure and dynamics of multilayer networks
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- Authors
- Donges, J. F., Zou, Y., Marwan, N., & Kurths, J.
- Affiliations
- Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (DE)
- Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (DE)
- Venue
- EPL (Europhysics Letters)
- Publisher
- IOP Publishing
- Published
- 2009-08-01
- Volume
- 87
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 48007
- ISSN
- 0295-5075 (ISSN-L)
- 1286-4854
- OpenAlex
- W2063858529
- Cited by
- 473
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 38 · 2018: 56 · 2017: 32 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 29 · 2014: 38 · 2013: 31 · 2012: 34
- FWCI
- 52.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Europhysics Letters (EPL) (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- Springer Link (Chiba Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Publication Database PIK (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)) (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts
- Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB 555)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Complex Systems and Time Series Analysis
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Climate variability and models
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Statistical and Nonlinear Physics › Complex Network Analysis Techniques
- Keywords
- climate networks, complex networks, betweenness centrality, surface air temperature, ocean surface currents, network inference, reanalysis data, climate model output
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