Statistical models called hidden Markov models are a recurring theme in computational biology. What are hidden Markov models, and why are they so useful for so many different problems?

Drought is a naturally occurring climate phenomenon that significantly affects human and environmental activity, and can be considered one of the most widespread and destructive natural disasters.

Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series C (Applied Statistics), Vol. 58, No. 3 (Jul., 2009), pp. 405-426 (22 pages) A new hidden Markov model for the space-time evolution of daily rainfall is ...

C. Bracken, B. Rajagopalan, & E. Zagona (2014). “A Hidden Markov Model Combined with Climate Indices for Multi-decadal Streamflow Simulation,” Water Resources Research, 50, 7836-7846. Abstract: ...