# A simple decomposition of European temperature variability capturing the variance from days to a decade

## TL;DR

This paper presents a straightforward decomposition method for European temperature variability, revealing that long-range correlations are primarily due to short-term relaxation, seasonal cycles, and an interannual oscillatory mode around 7-8 years.

## Contribution

It introduces a simple approach to explain temperature variability scaling behavior, emphasizing the role of specific short-term processes and interannual oscillations.

## Key findings

- Interannual variability often exhibits a 7-8 year oscillatory mode.
- Scaling behavior can be explained by short-term relaxation and seasonal cycles.
- Spatial patterns of parameters support the identified oscillatory mode.

## Abstract

We analyze European temperature variability from station data with the method of detrended fluctuation analysis. This method is known to give a scaling exponent indicating long range correlations in time for temperature anomalies. However, by a more careful look at the fluctuation function we are able to explain the emergent scaling behaviour by short time relaxation, the yearly cycle and one additional process. It turns out that for many stations this interannual variability is an oscillatory mode with a period length of approximately 7-8 years, which is consistent with results of other methods. We discuss the spatial patterns in all parameters and validate the finding of the 7-8 year period by comparing stations with and without this mode.