title: Disentangling different types of El Niño episodes by evolving climate network analysis.
abstract: Complex network theory provides a powerful toolbox for studying the structure of statistical interrelationships between multiple time series in various scientific disciplines. In this work, we apply the recently proposed climate network approach for characterizing the evolving correlation structure of the Earth's climate system based on reanalysis data for surface air temperatures. We provide a detailed study of the temporal variability of several global climate network characteristics. Based on a simple conceptual view of red climate networks (i.e., networks with a comparably low number of edges), we give a thorough interpretation of our evolving climate network characteristics, which allows a functional discrimination between recently recognized different types of El Niño episodes. Our analysis provides deep insights into the Earth's climate system, particularly its global response to strong volcanic eruptions and large-scale impacts of different phases of the El Niño Southern Oscillation.
authors: Alexander
authors: A
authors: Radebach
authors: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, P. O. Box 60 12 03, 14412 Potsdam, Germany and Department of Physics, Humboldt University Berlin, Newtonstraße 15, 12489 Berlin, Germany and Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change, Torgauer Straße 12-15, 10829 Berlin, Germany and Macroeconomic Sustainability Assessment, Economics of Climate Change, Technical University Berlin, Straße des 17. Juni 145, 10623 Berlin, Germany.
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Radebach
authors: Reik V
authors: RV
authors: Donner
authors: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, P. O. Box 60 12 03, 14412 Potsdam, Germany and Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Hans-Knöll-Straße 10, 07745 Jena, Germany.
authors: R V
authors: RV
authors: Donner
authors: Jakob
authors: J
authors: Runge
authors: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, P. O. Box 60 12 03, 14412 Potsdam, Germany and Department of Physics, Humboldt University Berlin, Newtonstraße 15, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Runge
authors: Jonathan F
authors: JF
authors: Donges
authors: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, P. O. Box 60 12 03, 14412 Potsdam, Germany and Department of Physics, Humboldt University Berlin, Newtonstraße 15, 12489 Berlin, Germany and Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Kräftriket 2B, 11419 Stockholm, Sweden.
authors: J F
authors: JF
authors: Donges
authors: Jürgen
authors: J
authors: Kurths
authors: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, P. O. Box 60 12 03, 14412 Potsdam, Germany and Department of Physics, Humboldt University Berlin, Newtonstraße 15, 12489 Berlin, Germany and Institute for Complex Systems and Mathematical Biology, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UE, United Kingdom.
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Kurths