Articles | Volume 21, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-21-901-2014
© Author(s) 2014. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-21-901-2014
© Author(s) 2014. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Research article
| 
29 Aug 2014
Research article |
| 29 Aug 2014
Topology and seasonal evolution of the network of extreme precipitation over the Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka
V. Stolbova
PIK Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact Research, P.O. Box 601203, 14412 Potsdam, Germany
Department of Physics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Newtonstr. 15, 12489 Berlin, Germany
P. Martin
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
B. Bookhagen
Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
University of Potsdam, Institute of Earth and Environmental Science, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24–25, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
N. Marwan
PIK Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact Research, P.O. Box 601203, 14412 Potsdam, Germany
J. Kurths
PIK Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact Research, P.O. Box 601203, 14412 Potsdam, Germany
Department of Physics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Newtonstr. 15, 12489 Berlin, Germany
Institute for Complex Systems and Mathematical Biology, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB243UE, UK
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Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 32, 225–242, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-32-225-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-32-225-2025, 2025
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Adarsh Jojo Thomas, Jürgen Kurths, and Daniel Schertzer
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 32, 131–138, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-32-131-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-32-131-2025, 2025
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We have developed a systematic approach to study the climate system at multiple scales using climate networks, which have been previously used to study correlations between time series in space at only a single scale. This new approach is used to upscale precipitation climate networks to study the Indian summer monsoon and to analyze strong dependencies between spatial regions, which change with changing scales.
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EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1110, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1110, 2025
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Our study presents a computer-based method to detect and measure pebbles in 3D models reconstructed from camera photos. We tested it in a controlled setup and achieved 98 % accuracy in detecting pebbles. Unlike traditional 2D methods, our approach provides full 3D size and orientation data. This improves sediment analysis and riverbed studies by offering more precise measurements. Our work highlights the potential of 3D modeling for studying natural surfaces.
Natalie Lützow, Bretwood Higman, Martin Truffer, Bodo Bookhagen, Friedrich Knuth, Oliver Korup, Katie E. Hughes, Marten Geertsema, John J. Clague, and Georg Veh
The Cryosphere, 19, 1085–1102, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1085-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1085-2025, 2025
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As the atmosphere warms, thinning glacier dams impound smaller lakes at their margins. Yet, some lakes deviate from this trend and have instead grown over time, increasing the risk of glacier floods to downstream populations and infrastructure. In this article, we examine the mechanisms behind the growth of an ice-dammed lake in Alaska. We find that the growth in size and outburst volumes is more controlled by glacier front downwaste than by overall mass loss over the entire glacier surface.
Ariane Mueting and Bodo Bookhagen
Earth Surf. Dynam., 12, 1121–1143, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-12-1121-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-12-1121-2024, 2024
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Sara M. Vallejo-Bernal, Frederik Wolf, Niklas Boers, Dominik Traxl, Norbert Marwan, and Jürgen Kurths
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 2645–2660, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2645-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2645-2023, 2023
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Employing event synchronization and complex networks analysis, we reveal a cascade of heavy rainfall events, related to intense atmospheric rivers (ARs): heavy precipitation events (HPEs) in western North America (NA) that occur in the aftermath of land-falling ARs are synchronized with HPEs in central and eastern Canada with a delay of up to 12 d. Understanding the effects of ARs in the rainfall over NA will lead to better anticipating the evolution of the climate dynamics in the region.
Domenico Giaquinto, Warner Marzocchi, and Jürgen Kurths
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 30, 167–181, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-30-167-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-30-167-2023, 2023
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Renee van Dongen, Dirk Scherler, Dadiyorto Wendi, Eric Deal, Luca Mao, Norbert Marwan, and Claudio I. Meier
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-1234, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-1234, 2022
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El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a climatic phenomenon that causes abnormal climatic conditions in Chile. We investigated how ENSO affects catchment hydrology and found strong seasonal and spatial differences in the hydrological response to ENSO which was caused by different hydrological processes in catchments that are dominated by snowmelt-generated runoff or rainfall-generated runoff. These results are relevant for water resources management and ENSO mitigation in Chile.
Cinthya Esther Nava Fernandez, Tobias Braun, Bethany Fox, Adam Hartland, Ola Kwiecien, Chelsea Pederson, Sebastian Hoepker, Stefano Bernasconi, Madalina Jaggi, John Hellstrom, Fernando Gázquez, Amanda French, Norbert Marwan, Adrian Immenhauser, and Sebastian Franz Martin Breitenbach
Clim. Past Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2021-172, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2021-172, 2022
Manuscript not accepted for further review
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We provide a ca. 1000 year long (6.4–5.4 ka BP) stalagmite-based reconstruction of mid-Holocene rainfall variability in the tropical western Pacific. The annually laminated multi-proxy (δ13C, δ18O, X/Ca, gray values) record comes from Niue island and informs on El Nino-Southern Oscillation and South Pacific Convergence Zone dynamics. Our data suggest that ENSO was active and influenced rainfall seasonality over the covered time interval. Rainfall seasonality was subdued during active ENSO phases
Nico Wunderling, Jonathan F. Donges, Jürgen Kurths, and Ricarda Winkelmann
Earth Syst. Dynam., 12, 601–619, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-12-601-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-12-601-2021, 2021
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In the Earth system, climate tipping elements exist that can undergo qualitative changes in response to environmental perturbations. If triggered, this would result in severe consequences for the biosphere and human societies. We quantify the risk of tipping cascades using a conceptual but fully dynamic network approach. We uncover that the risk of tipping cascades under global warming scenarios is enormous and find that the continental ice sheets are most likely to initiate these failures.
Abhirup Banerjee, Bedartha Goswami, Yoshito Hirata, Deniz Eroglu, Bruno Merz, Jürgen Kurths, and Norbert Marwan
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 28, 213–229, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-28-213-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-28-213-2021, 2021
Daniel Tesfay, Larissa Serdukova, Yayun Zheng, Pingyuan Wei, Jinqiao Duan, and Jürgen Kurths
Nonlin. Processes Geophys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-2020-31, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-2020-31, 2020
Publication in NPG not foreseen
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For more than a decade, the climate has attracted stochastic dynamists with its unpredictable and complex phenomena. Our attention was attracted by the results of studies on the possibility of oceanic thermohaline circulation failure. We set the task to analyze the stability of the circulation current on-state and to predetermine what extreme events can unbalance it leading to attenuation. We also suggested possible scenarios for the resuscitation of the circulation in the event of its fading.
Cinthya Nava-Fernandez, Adam Hartland, Fernando Gázquez, Ola Kwiecien, Norbert Marwan, Bethany Fox, John Hellstrom, Andrew Pearson, Brittany Ward, Amanda French, David A. Hodell, Adrian Immenhauser, and Sebastian F. M. Breitenbach
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 3361–3380, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-3361-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-3361-2020, 2020
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Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 2235–2251, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-2235-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-2235-2020, 2020
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In the climate/hydrology network, each node represents a geographical location of climatological data, and links between nodes are set up based on their interaction or similar variability. Here, using network theory, we first generate a node-ranking measure and then prioritize the rain gauges to identify influential and expandable stations across Germany. To show the applicability of the proposed approach, we also compared the results with existing traditional and contemporary network measures.
Markus Drüke, Matthias Forkel, Werner von Bloh, Boris Sakschewski, Manoel Cardoso, Mercedes Bustamante, Jürgen Kurths, and Kirsten Thonicke
Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 5029–5054, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-5029-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-5029-2019, 2019
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This work shows the successful application of a systematic model–data integration setup, as well as the implementation of a new fire danger formulation, in order to optimize a process-based fire-enabled dynamic global vegetation model. We have demonstrated a major improvement in the fire representation within LPJmL4-SPITFIRE in terms of the spatial pattern and the interannual variability of burned area in South America as well as in the modelling of biomass and the distribution of plant types.
Benjamin Purinton and Bodo Bookhagen
Earth Surf. Dynam., 7, 859–877, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-7-859-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-7-859-2019, 2019
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We develop and test new methods for counting pebble-size distributions in photos of gravel-bed rivers. Our open-source algorithms provide good estimates in complex imagery from high-energy mountain rivers. We discuss methods of river cross-section photo collection and processing into seamless georeferenced imagery. Application of a semi-automated version of the algorithm in small patches can be used as validation data for upscaling to entire survey sites using a fully automated version.
Jürgen Kurths, Ankit Agarwal, Roopam Shukla, Norbert Marwan, Maheswaran Rathinasamy, Levke Caesar, Raghavan Krishnan, and Bruno Merz
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 26, 251–266, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-26-251-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-26-251-2019, 2019
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Katalyn A. Voss, Bodo Bookhagen, Dirk Sachse, and Oliver A. Chadwick
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2018-534, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2018-534, 2018
Preprint withdrawn
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Water supply in the Himalayas is derived from rainfall, snowpack, glacial melt, and groundwater that vary spatially and seasonally. This study provides new data collected from rain, snow, and glacial-sourced surface waters over a 5000 m elevation range from April to October 2016. We identify water sourced from the summer monsoon versus winter westerly storms and track major snow and glacial melt events to elucidate the sourcing and timing of Himalayan streamflow and inform water management.
Benjamin Purinton and Bodo Bookhagen
Earth Surf. Dynam., 6, 971–987, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-6-971-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-6-971-2018, 2018
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We show a new use for the SRTM-C digital elevation model from February 2000 and the newer TanDEM-X dataset from ~ 2015. We difference the datasets over hillslopes and gravel-bed channels to extract vertical land-level changes. These signals are associated with incision, aggradation, and landsliding. This requires careful correction of the SRTM-C biases using the TanDEM-X and propagation of significant uncertainties. The method can be applied to moderate relief areas with SRTM-C coverage.
Tim Kittel, Catrin Ciemer, Nastaran Lotfi, Thomas Peron, Francisco Rodrigues, Jürgen Kurths, and Reik V. Donner
Nonlin. Processes Geophys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-2017-69, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-2017-69, 2017
Revised manuscript not accepted
Ankit Agarwal, Norbert Marwan, Maheswaran Rathinasamy, Bruno Merz, and Jürgen Kurths
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 24, 599–611, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-24-599-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-24-599-2017, 2017
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Extreme events such as floods and droughts result from synchronization of different natural processes working at multiple timescales. Investigation on an observation timescale will not reveal the inherent underlying dynamics triggering these events. This paper develops a new method based on wavelets and event synchronization to unravel the hidden dynamics responsible for such sudden events. This method is tested with synthetic and real-world cases and the results are promising.
Finn Müller-Hansen, Manoel F. Cardoso, Eloi L. Dalla-Nora, Jonathan F. Donges, Jobst Heitzig, Jürgen Kurths, and Kirsten Thonicke
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 24, 113–123, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-24-113-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-24-113-2017, 2017
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Deforestation and subsequent land uses in the Brazilian Amazon have huge impacts on greenhouse gas emissions, local climate and biodiversity. To better understand these land-cover changes, we apply complex systems methods uncovering spatial patterns in regional transition probabilities between land-cover types, which we estimate using maps derived from satellite imagery. The results show clusters of similar land-cover dynamics and thus complement studies at the local scale.
T. Nocke, S. Buschmann, J. F. Donges, N. Marwan, H.-J. Schulz, and C. Tominski
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 22, 545–570, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-22-545-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-22-545-2015, 2015
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The paper reviews the available visualisation techniques and tools for the visual analysis of geo-physical climate networks. The results from a questionnaire with experts from non-linear physics are presented, and the paper surveys recent developments from information visualisation and cartography with respect to their applicability for visual climate network analytics. Several case studies based on own solutions illustrate the potentials of state-of-the-art network visualisation technology.
J. F. Donges, R. V. Donner, N. Marwan, S. F. M. Breitenbach, K. Rehfeld, and J. Kurths
Clim. Past, 11, 709–741, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-709-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-709-2015, 2015
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Paleoclimate records from cave deposits allow the reconstruction of Holocene dynamics of the Asian monsoon system, an important tipping element in Earth's climate. Employing recently developed techniques of nonlinear time series analysis reveals several robust and continental-scale regime shifts in the complexity of monsoonal variability. These regime shifts might have played an important role as drivers of migration, cultural change, and societal collapse during the past 10,000 years.
T. K. D. Peron, C. H. Comin, D. R. Amancio, L. da F. Costa, F. A. Rodrigues, and J. Kurths
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 21, 1127–1132, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-21-1127-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-21-1127-2014, 2014
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In the past few years, complex networks have been extensively applied to climate sciences, yielding
the new field of climate networks. Here, we generalize climate network analysis by investigating the influence of altitudes in network topology. More precisely, we verified that nodes group into different communities corresponding to geographical areas with similar relief properties. This new approach may contribute to obtaining more complete climate network models.
Y. Zou, R. V. Donner, N. Marwan, M. Small, and J. Kurths
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 21, 1113–1126, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-21-1113-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-21-1113-2014, 2014
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We use visibility graphs to characterize asymmetries in the dynamics of sunspot areas in both solar hemispheres. Our analysis provides deep insights into the potential and limitations of this method, revealing a complex interplay between effects due to statistical versus dynamical properties of the observed data. Temporal changes in the hemispheric predominance of the graph connectivity are found to lag those directly associated with the total hemispheric sunspot areas themselves.
D. Eroglu, N. Marwan, S. Prasad, and J. Kurths
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 21, 1085–1092, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-21-1085-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-21-1085-2014, 2014
B. Goswami, J. Heitzig, K. Rehfeld, N. Marwan, A. Anoop, S. Prasad, and J. Kurths
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 21, 1093–1111, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-21-1093-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-21-1093-2014, 2014
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We present a new approach to estimating sedimentary proxy records along with the proxy uncertainty. We provide analytical expressions for the proxy record, while transparently propagating uncertainties from the ages to the proxy record. We represent proxies on an error-free, precise timescale. Our approach provides insight into the interrelations between proxy variability and the various uncertainties. We demonstrate our method with synthetic examples and proxy data from the Lonar lake in India.
K. Rehfeld, N. Molkenthin, and J. Kurths
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 21, 691–703, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-21-691-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-21-691-2014, 2014
L. Tupikina, K. Rehfeld, N. Molkenthin, V. Stolbova, N. Marwan, and J. Kurths
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 21, 705–711, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-21-705-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-21-705-2014, 2014
N. Molkenthin, K. Rehfeld, V. Stolbova, L. Tupikina, and J. Kurths
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 21, 651–657, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-21-651-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-21-651-2014, 2014
J. Hlinka, D. Hartman, N. Jajcay, M. Vejmelka, R. Donner, N. Marwan, J. Kurths, and M. Paluš
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 21, 451–462, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-21-451-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-21-451-2014, 2014
M. N. Hanshaw and B. Bookhagen
The Cryosphere, 8, 359–376, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-359-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-359-2014, 2014
K. Rehfeld and J. Kurths
Clim. Past, 10, 107–122, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-107-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-107-2014, 2014
N. Itoh and N. Marwan
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 20, 467–481, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-20-467-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-20-467-2013, 2013
