The Effect of Rain–No Rain Intermittency on the Estimation of the Universal Multifractals Model Parameters

Abstract

The multifractal properties of rain are investigated within the framework of universal multifractals. The database used in this study includes measurements performed over several months in different locations by means of a disdrometer, the dual-beam spectropluviometer (DBS). An assessment of the effect of the rain?no rain intermittency shows that the analysis of rain-rate time series may lead to a spurious break in the scaling and to erroneous parameters. The estimation of rain multifractal parameters is, therefore, performed on an event-by-event basis, and they are found to be significantly different from those proposed in scientific literature. In particular, the parameter H, which has often been estimated to be 0, is more likely to be 0.53, thus meaning that rain is a fractionally integrated flux (FIF). Finally, a new model is proposed that simulates high-resolution rain-rate time series based on these new parameters and on a simple threshold.