Empirical orthogonal functions and related techniques in atmospheric science: A review

Abstract Climate and weather constitute a typical example where high dimensional and complex phenomena meet. The atmospheric system is the result of highly complex interactions between many degrees of freedom or modes. In order to gain insight in understanding the dynamical/physical behaviour involved it is useful to attempt to understand their interactions in terms of a much smaller number of prominent modes of variability. This has led to the development by atmospheric researchers of methods that give a space display and a time display of large space‐time atmospheric data. Empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs) were first used in meteorology in the late 1940s. The method, which decomposes a space‐time field…

• SR
  Sight Research UK

  Award: ncas10009
• NE
  Natural Environment Research Council

  Award: ncas10009