Understanding long-term persistence and multifractal behaviors in river runoff: A detailed study over eastern China

Wenlu Wu, Naiming Yuan, Fenghua Xie and Yanjun Qi

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2019, vol. 533, issue C

Abstract: Long-term persistence (LTP) and multifractality in river runoff fluctuations have been well recognized over the recent decades, but the origins of these characteristics are still under debate. In this study, 12 runoff and 12 precipitation data from eastern China are analyzed using detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) and its generalized version, multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA). By comparing the results between runoff and the nearby precipitation data, we find the nonlinear features in river runoff may be propagated from the nearby precipitation data, but the LTP is not inherited from precipitation. To explain the observed LTP in river runoff, catchment area is found as a potential factor and the relation is more pronounced for catchment area with larger size. Accordingly, the LTP in river runoff may arise from the spatial aggregation effect, while the observed multifractal behaviors may be related to the nonlinear features in the nearby precipitation. These findings are based on data from eastern China, which was not analyzed systematically due to the poor data availability. Since the existence of LTP and multifractality makes the runoff change not completely random, one should further introduce these characteristics into hydrological models, for improved water managements and better estimations of hazard risks.

Keywords: Long-term persistence; Multifractality; River runoff; Precipitation; Catchment area (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:533:y:2019:i:c:s0378437119311793

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2019.122042

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