资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

In this paper, we comment on the recent two-part paper by Goodwell and Kumar (2017a, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016WR020216,2017b,https://doi.org/10.1002/2016WR020218) on quantifying three-way interactions between variables using information theory. Their proposed method of partitioning interactions into unique, redundant, and synergistic information is valuable and has potential other applications in the field of water resources. We present an example to investigate the generality of their assumption that redundancy follows from dependency of the sources. In the broader context of information theoretical methods in the geosciences, we argue that implementation challenges stem mostly from issues that are intrinsic to learning patterns from limited data. These issues are only hidden by assumptions, but not absent, when using conventional correlation-based methods. The flexibility of individually choosing assumptions in information theoretical methods gives them a myriad of potential applications in the study of complex systems.