Predicting stochastic systems by noise sampling, and application to the El Nino-Southern Oscillation.
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ABSTRACT: Interannual and interdecadal prediction are major challenges of climate dynamics. In this article we develop a prediction method for climate processes that exhibit low-frequency variability (LFV). The method constructs a nonlinear stochastic model from past observations and estimates a path of the "weather" noise that drives this model over previous finite-time windows. The method has two steps: (i) select noise samples--or "snippets"--from the past noise, which have forced the system during short-time intervals that resemble the LFV phase just preceding the currently observed state; and (ii) use these snippets to drive the system from the current state into the future. The method is placed in the framework of pathwise linear-response theory and is then applied to an El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) model derived by the empirical model reduction (EMR) methodology; this nonlinear model has 40 coupled, slow, and fast variables. The domain of validity of this forecasting procedure depends on the nature of the system's pathwise response; it is shown numerically that the ENSO model's response is linear on interannual time scales. As a result, the method's skill at a 6- to 16-month lead is highly competitive when compared with currently used dynamic and statistic prediction methods for the Niño-3 index and the global sea surface temperature field.
SUBMITTER: Chekroun MD
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3141987 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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