Arctic amplification: evidence from a cluster analysis of temperature time series for eight latitude bands

The warming trend in the Arctic is almost twice as large as the global average in recent decades. This is known as Arctic amplification. In this paper, we perform a cluster analysis of temperature time series for eight latitude bands. Our empirical findings confirm the Arctic amplification and further shed light on this phenomenon. In particular, our investigation allows us to go beyond the simple descriptive analysis of the data. The adopted distance measures the differences between the data generating processes behind the series. Differences in the dynamic structures of the considered series are then taken into consideration allowing for a more comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon.