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- ItemLocal difference measures between complex networks for dynamical system model evaluation(San Francisco, CA : Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2015) Lange, S.; Donges, J.F.; Volkholz, J.; Kurths, J.
- ItemAbrupt transitions in time series with uncertainties(London : Nature Publishing Group, 2018) Goswami, B.; Boers, N.; Rheinwalt, A.; Marwan, N.; Heitzig, J.; Breitenbach, S.F.M.; Kurths, J.Identifying abrupt transitions is a key question in various disciplines. Existing transition detection methods, however, do not rigorously account for time series uncertainties, often neglecting them altogether or assuming them to be independent and qualitatively similar. Here, we introduce a novel approach suited to handle uncertainties by representing the time series as a time-ordered sequence of probability density functions. We show how to detect abrupt transitions in such a sequence using the community structure of networks representing probabilities of recurrence. Using our approach, we detect transitions in global stock indices related to well-known periods of politico-economic volatility. We further uncover transitions in the El Niño-Southern Oscillation which coincide with periods of phase locking with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Finally, we provide for the first time an 'uncertainty-aware' framework which validates the hypothesis that ice-rafting events in the North Atlantic during the Holocene were synchronous with a weakened Asian summer monsoon.
- ItemWhen optimization for governing human-environment tipping elements is neither sustainable nor safe(London : Nature Publishing Group, 2018) Barfuss, W.; Donges, J.F.; Lade, S.J.; Kurths, J.Optimizing economic welfare in environmental governance has been criticized for delivering short-term gains at the expense of long-term environmental degradation. Different from economic optimization, the concepts of sustainability and the more recent safe operating space have been used to derive policies in environmental governance. However, a formal comparison between these three policy paradigms is still missing, leaving policy makers uncertain which paradigm to apply. Here, we develop a better understanding of their interrelationships, using a stylized model of human-environment tipping elements. We find that no paradigm guarantees fulfilling requirements imposed by another paradigm and derive simple heuristics for the conditions under which these trade-offs occur. We show that the absence of such a master paradigm is of special relevance for governing real-world tipping systems such as climate, fisheries, and farming, which may reside in a parameter regime where economic optimization is neither sustainable nor safe.
- ItemMIS-11 duration key to disappearance of the Greenland ice sheet(London : Nature Publishing Group, 2017) Robinson, A.; Alvarez-Solas, J.; Calov, R.; Ganopolski, A.; Montoya, M.Palaeo data suggest that Greenland must have been largely ice free during Marine Isotope Stage 11 (MIS-11). However, regional summer insolation anomalies were modest during this time compared to MIS-5e, when the Greenland ice sheet likely lost less volume. Thus it remains unclear how such conditions led to an almost complete disappearance of the ice sheet. Here we use transient climate-ice sheet simulations to simultaneously constrain estimates of regional temperature anomalies and Greenland's contribution to the MIS-11 sea-level highstand. We find that Greenland contributed 6.1 m (3.9-7.0 m, 95% credible interval) to sea level, ∼7 kyr after the peak in regional summer temperature anomalies of 2.8 °C (2.1-3.4 °C). The moderate warming produced a mean rate of mass loss in sea-level equivalent of only around 0.4 m per kyr, which means the long duration of MIS-11 interglacial conditions around Greenland was a necessary condition for the ice sheet to disappear almost completely.
- ItemThe plant phenological online database (PPODB): An online database for long-term phenological data(Heidelberg : Springer Verlag, 2013) Dierenbach, J.; Badeck, F.-W.; Schaber, J.We present an online database that provides unrestricted and free access to over 16 million plant phenological observations from over 8,000 stations in Central Europe between the years 1880 and 2009. Unique features are (1) a flexible and unrestricted access to a full-fledged database, allowing for a wide range of individual queries and data retrieval, (2) historical data for Germany before 1951 ranging back to 1880, and (3) more than 480 curated long-term time series covering more than 100 years for individual phenological phases and plants combined over Natural Regions in Germany. Time series for single stations or Natural Regions can be accessed through a user-friendly graphical geo-referenced interface. The joint databases made available with the plant phenological database PPODB render accessible an important data source for further analyses of long-term changes in phenology. The database can be accessed via www.ppodb.de.
- ItemMultimodel assessments of human and climate impacts on mean annual streamflow in China(Munich : EGU, 2019) Liu, Xingcai; Liu, Wenfeng; Yang, Hong; Tang, Qiuhong; Flörke, Martina; Masaki, Yoshimitsu; Müller Schmied, Hannes; Ostberg, Sebastian; Pokhrel, Yadu; Satoh, Yusuke; Wada, YoshihideHuman activities, as well as climate variability, have had increasing impacts on natural hydrological systems, particularly streamflow. However, quantitative assessments of these impacts are lacking on large scales. In this study, we use the simulations from six global hydrological models driven by three meteorological forcings to investigate direct human impact (DHI) and climate impact on streamflow in China. Results show that, in the sub-periods of 1971-1990 and 1991-2010, one-fifth to one-third of mean annual streamflow (MAF) was reduced due to DHI in northern basins, and much smaller ( 4 %) MAF was reduced in southern basins. From 1971-1990 to 1991-2010, total MAF changes range from-13%to 10%across basins wherein the relative contributions of DHI change and climate variability show distinct spatial patterns. DHI change caused decreases in MAF in 70% of river segments, but climate variability dominated the total MAF changes in 88% of river segments of China. In most northern basins, climate variability results in changes of-9% to 18% in MAF, while DHI change results in decreases of 2% to 8% in MAF. In contrast with the climate variability that may increase or decrease streamflow, DHI change almost always contributes to decreases in MAF over time, with water withdrawals supposedly being the major impact on streamflow. This quantitative assessment can be a reference for attribution of streamflow changes at large scales, despite remaining uncertainty. We highlight the significant DHI in northern basins and the necessity to modulate DHI through improved water management towards a better adaptation to future climate change. © 2019 Author(s).
- ItemCorrelation networks from flows. The case of forced and time-dependent advection-diffusion dynamics(San Francisco, CA : Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2016) Tupikina, L.; Molkenthin, N.; López, C.; Hernández-GarcÃa, E.; Marwan, N.; Kurths, J.
- ItemA regime shift in the Sun-Climate connection with the end of the Medieval Climate Anomaly(London : Nature Publishing Group, 2017) Smirnov, D.A.; Breitenbach, S.F.M.; Feulner, G.; Lechleitner, F.A.; Prufer, K.M.; Baldini, J.U.L.; Marwan, N.; Kurths, J.Understanding the influence of changes in solar activity on Earth's climate and distinguishing it from other forcings, such as volcanic activity, remains a major challenge for palaeoclimatology. This problem is best approached by investigating how these variables influenced past climate conditions as recorded in high precision paleoclimate archives. In particular, determining if the climate system response to these forcings changes through time is critical. Here we use the Wiener-Granger causality approach along with well-established cross-correlation analysis to investigate the causal relationship between solar activity, volcanic forcing, and climate as reflected in well-established Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) rainfall proxy records from Yok Balum Cave, southern Belize. Our analysis reveals a consistent influence of volcanic activity on regional Central American climate over the last two millennia. However, the coupling between solar variability and local climate varied with time, with a regime shift around 1000-1300 CE after which the solar-climate coupling weakened considerably.
- ItemBayesian Data Analysis for Revealing Causes of the Middle Pleistocene Transition([London] : Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature, 2019) Mukhin, Dmitry; Gavrilov, Andrey; Loskutov, Evgeny; Kurths, Juergen; Feigin, AlexanderCurrently, causes of the middle Pleistocene transition (MPT) – the onset of large-amplitude glacial variability with 100 kyr time scale instead of regular 41 kyr cycles before – are a challenging puzzle in Paleoclimatology. Here we show how a Bayesian data analysis based on machine learning approaches can help to reveal the main mechanisms underlying the Pleistocene variability, which most likely explain proxy records and can be used for testing existing theories. We construct a Bayesian data-driven model from benthic δ18O records (LR04 stack) accounting for the main factors which may potentially impact climate of the Pleistocene: internal climate dynamics, gradual trends, variations of insolation, and millennial variability. In contrast to some theories, we uncover that under long-term trends in climate, the strong glacial cycles have appeared due to internal nonlinear oscillations induced by millennial noise. We find that while the orbital Milankovitch forcing does not matter for the MPT onset, the obliquity oscillation phase-locks the climate cycles through the meridional gradient of insolation.
- ItemAn integrative quantifier of multistability in complex systems based on ecological resilience(London : Nature Publishing Group, 2015) Mitra, C.; Kurths, J.; Donner, R.V.