Simple multifractal cascade model for air pollutant concentration (APC) time series

Abstract

AbstractA simple two‐scale Cantor set with unequal scales and weights was presented for the APC time series. The validity of this multifractal cascade model was examined with a one‐year length of hourly average CO, NO, NO2, O3, PM10 and SO2 observations. This model fits remarkably well the entire spectrum of scaling exponents for the examined APC time series. It was found that the multifractal characteristics of the examined APC time series were closely related to both scale and weight parameters. Moreover, the weight parameter could be used to distinguish the degree of right‐skewness of APC frequency distribution. However, the relationship between the long‐range dependence and model parameters still requires further investigation. Some problems concerning the applicability of multifractal models on air pollution are also discussed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.