Topological Structure of the Cyclonic-Anticyclonic Interactions

TL;DR

This paper applies persistent homology to analyze the large-scale structure and seasonal variability of cyclonic and anticyclonic systems in the North Atlantic, revealing robust patterns and long-lived features without feature-tracking heuristics.

Contribution

It introduces a topological approach using persistent homology to objectively characterize and track cyclonic and anticyclonic structures in climate data.

Findings

Cyclonic features are more persistent and numerous than anticyclonic ones.

Seasonal patterns show winter maxima and summer minima in pressure systems.

Long trajectories correspond to known large-scale atmospheric phenomena.

Abstract

We investigate the large-scale structure and temporal evolution of cyclonic and anticyclonic systems in the North Atlantic using persistent homology applied to daily sea-level pressure anomalies from the ERA5 reanalysis (1950-2022). By interpreting the pressure field as a cubical complex and computing its sublevel- and superlevel-set filtrations, we identify degree-1 topological features corresponding respectively to anticyclones surrounded by low pressure and cyclones surrounded by high pressure. We quantify their intensity through total persistence and track their evolution over time using optimal matchings and Wasserstein distances between consecutive persistence diagrams. The method captures coherent, long-lived structures without requiring feature-tracking heuristics and reveals robust seasonal patterns: both cyclonic and anticyclonic 1-holes exhibit strong winter maxima and summer minima in total persistence, lifetime, and frequency. Cyclonic features are more persistent, more numerous, and longer-lived than their anticyclonic counterparts, consistent with the climatological dominance of the Icelandic Low in winter and the weaker, more transient nature of anticyclonic highs. Long trajectories correspond to known large-scale structures such as winter cyclonic deepening and blocking episodes. These results demonstrate that persistent homology provides an objective, filtering-free characterization of pressure-field organization and offers a topological framework to analyze the dynamics and variability of mid-latitude circulation.