Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the statistical properties of a daily rainfall time series recorded in Piracicaba river basin, state of Sao Paulo, Brazil in the period 1917-2016. We apply Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (MF-DFA) on deseasonalized data and calculate generalized scaling exponents, h ( q ). We find that h ( q ) is a decreasing function of q , indicating multifractal behavior of precipitation dynamics. We also perform calculations on two subseries corresponding to the periods before and after 1970, where the second period is characterised by a significant increase of positive trend in rainfall intensity. We find no significant change in behaviour between these two subseries and the entire series, indicating that the dynamics of the underlying process did not change. Our results agree with previous studies on multifractal properties of rainfall time series in other regions of the world supporting the hypotheses of the existence of multiplicative cascade processes in the atmosphere.
Highlights
Rainfall is one of the most remarkable hydrometeorological variables studied because of its non-homogeneous behaviour in event and intensity, leading to water runoff, drought with adverse environmental and social consequences (Walther et al, 2002)
By analysing the data correlations on different scales, the multifractal technique makes it possible to evaluate the full range of precipitation dynamics; which is essential for understanding and modeling several hydrological phenomena such as droughts, floods, runoff, soil erosion, pollution transport, water infiltration etc. (Berne, Delrieu, Creutin, & Obled, 2004; Moriasi & Starks, 2010; Zhang, Ni, Ni, Li, & Zhou, 2016)
Our objective in this paper focuses on the examination of the multifractal features of a longterm daily rainfall time series recorded in the Piracicaba river basin
Summary
Rainfall is one of the most remarkable hydrometeorological variables studied because of its non-homogeneous behaviour in event and intensity, leading to water runoff, drought with adverse environmental and social consequences (Walther et al, 2002). By analysing the data correlations on different scales, the multifractal technique makes it possible to evaluate the full range of precipitation dynamics; which is essential for understanding and modeling several hydrological phenomena such as droughts, floods, runoff, soil erosion, pollution transport, water infiltration etc. Piracicaba river basin is situated in the Southeastern region of Brazil. This region is experiencing an accelerated urban and agro-
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