EOF Fest: Homework #5

Pick one of the following papers employing EOF analysis to read and critique. Focus principally on how the EOF analysis is performed. Use the following set of questions as a guide, but each paper will present its own special characteristics that will need to be discussed. Focus on the sections where the EOF method is featured.

1. Is the data set a good candidate for EOF analysis?

2. How is the data prepared and the analysis performed?

3. How is the statistical significance of the eigenanalysis determined?

4. How are the results presented?

5. List the strengths and weaknesses of the particular use of EOF analysis made in this case.

6. Do you believe the conclusions?

Be prepared to give a 10 minute presentation designed to explain your evaluation of the procedures used to someone who has not read the paper. Explain the scientific question, the data available and then the use of EOF analysis. Make it interesting!

Biggerstaff, M. I., E. K. Seo, S. M. Hristova-Veleva, and K. Y. Kim, 2006: Impact of cloud model microphysics on passive microwave retrievals of cloud properties. Part I: Model comparison using EOF analyses. J. Appl. Meteor. Climat., 45, 930-954.

Ding, Q. H. and B. Wang, 2007: Intraseasonal teleconnection between the summer Eurasian wave train and the Indian monsoon. J. Climate, 20, 3751-3767.

Fraedrich, K., S. Pawson, and R. S. Wang, 1993: An EOF Analysis of the Vertical Time-Delay Structure of the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation. J. Atmos. Sci., 50, 3357-3365.

Hawkins, E. and R. Sutton, 2007: Variability of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation described by three-dimensional empirical orthogonal functions. Clim. Dyn., 29, 745-762.

Mann, M. E., S. Rutherford, R. S. Bradley, M. K. Hughes, and F. T. Keimig, 2003: Optimal surface temperature reconstructions using terrestrial borehole data. Jo. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 108.

Overland, J. E., M. C. Spillane, and N. N. Soreide, 2004: Integrated analysis of physical and biological Pan-Arctic change. Climatic Change, 63, 291-322.

Perry, M. A. and J. D. Niemann, 2007: Analysis and estimation of soil moisture at the catchment scale using EOFs. J. Hydrology, 334, 388-404.

Monahan, A. H., J. C. Fyfe, M. H. P. Ambaum, D. B. Stephenson, and G. R. North, 2009: Empirical Orthogonal Functions: The Medium is the Message. J. Climate, 22, 6501-6514. (More of a review for dynamicists than a research paper.)

Munoz-Perez, J. J., M. Navarro, J. Roman-Sierra, B. Tejedor, I. Rodriguez, and G. Gomez-Pina, 2009: Long-term evolution of a transgressive migrating dune using reconstruction of the EOF method. Geomorphology, 112, 167-177.