Disentangling regional impacts of joint teleconnections using causal representation learning

Spuler, F. R., Kretschmer, M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2756-9526, Balmaseda, M. A., Gudoshava, M. and Shepherd, T. G. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6631-9968 (2026) Disentangling regional impacts of joint teleconnections using causal representation learning. Journal of Climate. ISSN 1520-0442 doi: 10.1175/JCLI-D-25-0700.1 (In Press)

Abstract/Summary

Understanding teleconnections of large-scale modes of climate variability is relevant for seasonal predictability and supports a dynamical understanding of climatic changes. While numerical model experiments are the most common approach for investigating counterfactual climate responses, their conclusions are subject to model biases. Data-driven approaches offer a complementary perspective. Deep learning can extract reduced-dimensional patterns but usually lacks causal interpretability, while causal methods can disentangle signals in the presence of confounding yet are typically based on simple indices. Treating dimensionality reduction and causal inference separately thereby risks losing the teleconnection signal of interest. This paper introduces DAG-VAE, a causal representation learning approach that embeds a physics-informed directed acyclic graph in the latent space of a variational autoencoder. Combining deep learning with causal inference, the method jointly learns nonlinear reduced representations of large-scale modes of variability and their causal interactions. We apply DAG-VAE to disentangle the influences of the Pacific and Indian Oceans on the short rains over the Greater Horn of Africa. Trained on seasonal hindcasts, the method identifies dynamically meaningful representations and recovers spatial response patterns consistent with SST-replacement experiments. Trained on observations and reanalysis data, DAG-VAE identifies a different response pattern to direct influence of the tropical Pacific, highlighting potential model biases and the value of DAG-VAE as a complementary, data-driven approach for estimating spatial causal response patterns from observations. Finally, we demonstrate the ability of the method to generate data-driven counterfactuals of extreme short rain seasons, with potential applications for forecast-based early action and scenario planning.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/id/eprint/130848
Identification Number/DOI	10.1175/JCLI-D-25-0700.1
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > Department of Meteorology
Publisher	American Meteorological Society
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