Skip to main content

Testing for Collective Statistical Significance in Climate Change Detection Studies

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
  • 508 Accesses

Part of the book series: Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation ((ASTI))

Abstract

We examined several approaches to detecting statistical significance of trends defined on a grid, that is, on a regional scale. To this end, we introduced a novel simple procedure of significance testing based on counting signs of local trends (sign test), and comparing it with four other approaches to testing collective significance of trends (counting, extended Kendall, Walker, and FDR tests). Synthetic data were used to construct the null distributions of trend statistics and determine critical values of the tests. The application of the five tests to real datasets reveals that outcomes of the tests may differ even though trends are locally significant at the majority of the grid points.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  1. DelSole, T., Yang, X.S.: Field significance of regression patterns. J. Climate 24, 5094–5107 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Katz, R.W., Brown, B.G.: The problem of multiplicity in research on teleconnections. Int. J. Climatol. 11, 505–513 (1991)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Khaliq, M.N., Ouarda, T.B.M.J., Gachon, P., Sushama, L., St-Hilaire, A.: Identification of hydrological trends in the presence of serial and cross correlations: a review of selected methods and their application to annual flow regimes of Canadian rivers. J. Hydrol. 368, 117–130 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Livezey, R.E., Chen, W.Y.: Statistical field significance and its determination by Monte Carlo techniques. Mon. Weather Rev. 111, 46–59 (1983)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Ventura, V., Paciorek, C.J., Risbey, J.S.: Controlling the proportion of falsely rejected hypotheses when conducting multiple tests with climatological data. J. Climate 17, 4343–4356 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Wilks, D.S.: On “field significance” and the false discovery rate. J. Appl. Meteorol. Climatol. 45, 1181–1189 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Wilks, D.S.: The stippling shows statistically significant gridpoints. How research results are routinely overstated and overinterpreted, and what to do about it. Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc. 97, 2263–2273 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Czech Science Foundation, project 16-04676S.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Radan Huth .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Huth, R., Dubrovský, M. (2019). Testing for Collective Statistical Significance in Climate Change Detection Studies. In: Zhang, Z., Khélifi, N., Mezghani, A., Heggy, E. (eds) Patterns and Mechanisms of Climate, Paleoclimate and Paleoenvironmental Changes from Low-Latitude Regions. CAJG 2018. Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01599-2_21

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics