Application of Lévy processes in modelling (geodetic) time series with mixed spectra

Abstract

Abstract. Recently, various models have been developed, including the fractional Brownian motion (fBm), to analyse the stochastic properties of geodetic time series together with the estimated geophysical signals. The noise spectrum of these time series is generally modelled as a mixed spectrum, with a sum of white and coloured noise. Here, we are interested in modelling the residual time series after deterministically subtracting geophysical signals from the observations. This residual time series is then assumed to be a sum of three stochastic processes, including the family of Lévy processes. The introduction of a third stochastic term models the remaining residual signals and other correlated processes. Via simulations and real time series, we identify three classes of Lévy processes, namely Gaussian, fractional and stable. In the first case, residuals are predominantly constituted of short-memory processes. The fractional Lévy process can be an alternative model to the fBm in the presence of long-term correlations and self-similarity properties. The stable process is here restrained to the special case of infinite variance, which can be only satisfied in the case of heavy-tailed distributions in the application to geodetic time series. Therefore, the model implies potential anxiety in the functional model selection, where missing geophysical information can generate such residual time series.