Network analysis reveals strongly localized impacts of El Niño

Abstract

El Niño, one of the strongest climatic phenomena on interannual time scales, affects the climate system and is associated with natural disasters and serious social conflicts. Here, using network theory, we construct a directed and weighted climate network to study the global impacts of El Niño and La Niña. The constructed climate network enables the identification of the regions that are most drastically affected by specific El Niño/La Niña events. Our analysis indicates that the effect of the El Niño basin on worldwide regions is more localized and stronger during El Niño events compared with normal times.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Jul 03, 2017
Source ID
10.1073/pnas.1701214114

Entities

People

  • Hans Joachim Schellnhuber
  • Jingfang Fan
  • Jun Meng
  • Shlomo Havlin
  • Yosef Ashkenazy

Organizations

  • Bar-Ilan University
  • Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
  • Defense Threat Reduction Agency
  • European Commission
  • Ministry of Science and Technology, Israel
  • Office of Naval Research
  • Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
  • Santa Fe Institute

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science/Meteorology
  • Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Modeling, Data Assimilation, and Flux Boundary Layers