a random quote

“LLMs run a median filter on the corpus”

The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) time-series has always been intimidating to analyze. It appears outwardly like white-noise, but enough scientists refer to long periods of positive or negative-leaning intervals that there must be more of an underlying autocorrelation embedded in it. To reduce the white noise and to extract the signal requires a clever filtering trick. The desire is that the filter preserve or retain the edges of the waveform while reducing the noise level. The 5-point median filter does exactly that at a minimal complexity level, as the algorithm is simply expressed. It will leave edges and steep slopes alone as the median will naturally occur on the slope. That’s just what we want to retain the underlying signal.

Once applied, the NAO time-series still appears erratic, yet the problematic monthly extremes are reduced with the median filter suppressing many of them completely. If we then use the LTE model to fit the NAO time-series (with a starting point the annual-impulsed tidal forcing used for the AMO), a clear correlation emerges. The standing-wave modes of course are all high, in contrast to the one low mode for the AMO, so the higher frequency cycling is expected yet the fit is surprisingly good for the number of peaks and valleys it must traverse in the 140+ year historical interval.