Detecting dynamical anomalies in time series from different palaeoclimate proxy archives using windowed recurrence network analysis

Abstract

Abstract. Analysing palaeoclimate proxy time series using windowed recurrence network analysis (wRNA) has been shown to provide valuable information on past climate variability. In turn, it has also been found that the robustness of the obtained results differs among proxies from different palaeoclimate archives. To systematically test the suitability of wRNA for studying different types of palaeoclimate proxy time series, we use the framework of forward proxy modelling. For this, we create artificial input time series with different properties and, in a first step, compare the time series properties of the input and the model output time series. In a second step, we compare the areawise significant anomalies detected using wRNA. For proxies from tree and lake archives, we find that significant anomalies present in the input time series are sometimes missed in the input time series after the nonlinear filtering by the corresponding models. For proxies from speleothems, we observe falsely identified significant anomalies that are not present in the input time series. Finally, for proxies from ice cores, the wRNA results show the best correspondence with those for the input data. Our results contribute to improve the interpretation of windowed recurrence network analysis results obtained from real-world palaeoclimate time series.