Multiple Regimes in Northern Hemisphere Height Fields via MixtureModel Clustering*

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A mixture model is a flexible probability density estimation technique, consisting of a linear combination of k component densities. Such a model is applied to estimate clustering in Northern Hemisphere (NH) 700-mb geopotential height anomalies. A key feature of this approach is its ability to estimate a posterior probability distribution for k, the number of clusters, given the data and the model. The number of clusters that is most likely to fit the data is thus determined objectively. A dataset of 44 winters of NH 700-mb fields is projected onto its two leading empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs) and analyzed using mixtures of Gaussian components. Cross-validated likelihood is used to determine the best value of k, the number of clusters. The posterior probability so determined peaks at k = 3 and thus yields clear evidence for three clusters in the NH 700-mb data. The three-cluster result is found to be robust with respect to variations in data preprocessing and data analysis parameters. The... Abstract A mixture model is a flexible probability density estimation technique, consisting of a linear combination of k component densities. Such a model is applied to estimate clustering in Northern Hemisphere (NH) 700-mb geopotential height anomalies. A key feature of this approach is its ability to estimate a posterior probability distribution for k, the number of clusters, given the data and the model. The number of clusters that is most likely to fit the data is thus determined objectively. A dataset of 44 winters of NH 700-mb fields is projected onto its two leading empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs) and analyzed using mixtures of Gaussian components. Cross-validated likelihood is used to determine the best value of k, the number of clusters. The posterior probability so determined peaks at k = 3 and thus yields clear evidence for three clusters in the NH 700-mb data. The three-cluster result is found to be robust with respect to variations in data preprocessing and data analysis parameters. The...