Synchrony
Synchrony asks when places, events, or biological responses move together. In CubeDynamics, it is a grammar:
raw cube -> state cube -> event result -> synchrony operator -> spatial summary
That separation matters. A threshold rule should not be tangled up with a spatial comparison choice, and a center pixel should not define the whole idea of synchrony.
Start Here
Theory Map
Ecological synchrony, Moran effects, event synchronization, climate networks, and compound events.
State and Events
Turn raw climate or biological values into standard state cubes and event catalogs.
Four Primitives
Compare occurrence, severity, timing, and duration with shared spatial modes.
Biology Coupling
Rasterize observations, align cubes, and compare lagged climate-biology states.
The First Analysis
The states-and-events vignette uses observed PRISM minimum temperature to define severe-cold states, retain persistent events, and map occurrence synchrony with a reference cell. Its source, units, archive checksums, threshold, and plots are all reviewable.
Why Four Operators?
Two locations can be synchronized in one sense and independent in another:
- Occurrence: did the state happen at the same times?
- Severity: were magnitudes high together when both were active?
- Timing: did matched events begin, peak, or end together?
- Duration: did matched events persist for similar lengths of time?
The operators can disagree because they answer different questions. Publication examples are added only when a vetted observational dataset supports the stated comparison; exact truth cases remain in the test suite rather than serving as scientific illustrations.
Core Pattern
from cubedynamics import pipe, verbs as v
hot = (
pipe(tmax_cube)
| v.threshold_state(threshold=35, direction="above")
).unwrap()
events = (
pipe(hot)
| v.detect_events(state_var="state", min_duration=2, max_gap=1)
).unwrap()
occurrence = (
pipe(hot)
| v.occurrence_synchrony(spatial_mode="neighbors", radius_km=100)
).unwrap()
Read next: State and Events, then Four Primitives.