Multifractal analysis of the time series of daily means of wind speed in complex regions

TL;DR

This study applies multifractal analysis to daily wind speed data from Swiss weather stations, revealing persistent and multifractal behavior influenced by complex topography, enhancing understanding of wind variability in mountainous regions.

Contribution

First application of multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis to Swiss wind speed data, highlighting local topography effects on wind dynamics.

Findings

Wind speed series show persistent behavior with Hurst exponent > 0.5.

High multifractality indicates dominance of large fluctuations.

Regional differences in wind variability linked to topography.

Abstract

In this paper, we applied the multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis to the daily means of wind speed measured by 119 weather stations distributed over the territory of Switzerland. The analysis was focused on the inner time fluctuations of wind speed, which could be more linked with the local conditions of the highly varying topography of Switzerland. Our findings point out to a persistent behaviour of all the measured wind speed series (indicated by a Hurst exponent significantly larger than 0.5), and to a high multifractality degree indicating a relative dominance of the large fluctuations in the dynamics of wind speed, especially in the Swiss plateau, which is comprised between the Jura and Alp mountain ranges. The study represents a contribution to the understanding of the dynamical mechanisms of wind speed variability in mountainous regions.