Network analysis of U.S. hurricanes

Abstract

Hurricanes affecting the United States are examined with methods of network analysis. Network analysis is used in a variety of fields to study relational data, but has yet to be employed to study hurricane climatology. The present work is expository introducing network analysis and showing one way it can be applied to understand regional hurricane activity. The network links coastal locations (termed nodes) with particular hurricanes (termed links). The topology of the network is examined using local and global measures. Results show that certain regions of the coast (like the state of Louisiana) have high occurrence rates, but not necessarily high values of connectivity. Regions with the highest values of connectivity include southwest Florida, northwest Florida, and North Carolina. Virginia, which has a relatively low occurrence rate, is centrally located in the network having a relatively high value of betweenness. Six conditional networks are constructed based on years of below and above average values of important climate variables. Significant differences in the connectivity of the network are noted between phases of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation. © 2009 Springer-Verlag US.