Unveiling amplified isolation in climate networks due to global warming

Abstract

Our study utilizes a global reanalysis of near-surface daily air temperature data spanning the years from 1949 to 2019 to construct climate networks. By employing community detection for each year, we reveal the evolving community structure of the climate network within the context of global warming. Our findings indicate significant changes in measures such as network modularity and the number of communities over the past 30 years. Notably, the community structure of the climate network has undergone a discernible transition since the early 1980s. We attribute this transition to the substantial increase in isolated nodes since the 1980s, primarily concentrated in equatorial ocean regions. Additionally, we demonstrate that nodes experiencing amplified isolation tend to diminish connectivity with other nodes globally, particularly those within the same oceanic basin, while showing a significant strengthening of connections with the Eurasian and North African continents. We deduce that the mechanism driving amplified isolation in the climate network may be comprehended through the weakening of tropical circulations, such as the Hadley cell and Walker circulation, in response to increasing greenhouse gases.