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Time dependent correlations in marine stratocumulus cloud base height records
The scaling ranges of time correlations in the cloud base height records of
marine boundary layer stratocumulus are studied applying the Detrended
Fluctuation Analysis statistical method. We have found that time dependent
variations in the evolution of the exponent reflect the diurnal
dynamics of cloud base height fluctuations in the marine boundary layer. In
general, a more stable structure of the boundary layer corresponds to a lower
value of the - indicator, i.e. larger anti-persistence, thus a set of
fluctuations tending to induce a greater stability of the stratocumulus. In
contrast, during periods of higher instability in the marine boundary, less
anti-persistent (more persistent like) behavior of the system drags it out of
equilibrium, corresponding to larger values. From an analysis of the
frequency spectrum, the stratocumulus base height evolution is found to be a
non-stationary process with stationary increments. The occurrence of these
statistics in cloud base height fluctuations suggests the usefulness of similar
studies for the radiation transfer dynamics modeling.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures; to appear in Int. J. Mod. Phys. C, Vol. 13, No.
2 (2002
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