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The climate attractor over short timescales

Nature volume 326, pages 64–66 (1987)Cite this article

A Corrigendum to this article was published on 10 September 1987

Abstract

Recent work has highlighted the possibilities of using certain ideas from the theory of dynamical systems for the study of global climate. These ideas include the geometrical notion of correlation or scaling dimension, first used to analyse attractors arising in mathematical and laboratory systems1–4 and later applied in a geophysical context5,6. The conclusion of the original geophysical work5 has been criticized in the light of a reanalysis7 which questions the existence of a low-dimensional climate attractor. Here results of a similar analysis conducted on daily meteorological observations from 1946 to 1982, are announced. This new work overcomes limitations of previous analyses, and supports the existence of such an attractor.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada, N6A 5B9

    Christopher Essex, Turab Lookman & M. A. H. Nerenberg

Authors
  1. Christopher Essex
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  2. Turab Lookman
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  3. M. A. H. Nerenberg
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Essex, C., Lookman, T. & Nerenberg, M. The climate attractor over short timescales. Nature 326, 64–66 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1038/326064a0

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