Noise-induced phenomena are characterized by the ability of noise to induce order (either in space or in time) in dynamical systems. These phenomena are caused by the randomness of external drivers, and they would not exist in the absence of noise. The ability of noise to create order is counterintuitive. In fact, until recently, noise was generally associated with disordered random fluctuations around the steady states of the underlying deterministic dynamics. However, in the past few years the scientific community has become aware that noise can also have a more fundamental effect, in that it can determine new states and new dynamical patterns.

The speculative “beauty” of these dynamical behaviors, as well as the ubiquitous occurrence of random drivers in a number of natural and engineered systems, explains the great attention that has been recently paid to the study of noise-induced phenomena. A number of recent contributions have shown that the emergence of order and patterns in nature may result as an effect of the noise inherent in environmental variability. A typical example is climate fluctuations and their ability to induce dynamical behaviors that would not exist in the absence of random climate variability. The main reason for writing this book is that there is a rich body of literature on noise-induced phenomena in the environmental sciences, and it has become difficult to keep track of the main theories, methods, and findings that have been presented in a number of research articles spread throughout the physics, mathematics, geoscience, and ecology journals.