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2011•Journal of Science and Technology (Ghana)Open access

Time series analysis of monthly rainfall in Nigeria with emphasis on self-organized criticality

Chidozie Charles Nnaji

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Abstract

Monthly rainfall data of twenty-one years (1980 – 2000) were analyzed for the six regions of Nigeria using the rescaled range (R/S) statistic, the standard fluctuation analysis (FA) and the detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). The results indicated that the distribution of monthly rainfall has a Hurst exponent of 1 in the short term which is an evidence of self-organized criticality,and a Hurst exponent of about 0.5 in the long run which is an evidence of a random walk. The Hurst exponents decreased from around 1 for small window sizes and reached 0.5 after 36 months and then remained fairly constant. The R/S statistic was found to perform better than the FA and the linear DFA used in the analysis.

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What this paper is about

Monthly rainfall data of twenty-one years (1980 – 2000) were analyzed for the six regions of Nigeria using the rescaled range (R/S) statistic, the standard fluctuation analysis (FA) and the detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). The results indicated that the distribution of monthly rainfall has a Hurst exponent of 1 in the short term which is an evidence of self-organized criticality,and a Hurst exponent of about 0.5 in the long run which is an evidence of a random walk. The Hurst exponents decreased from around 1 for small window sizes and reached 0.5 after 36 months and then remained fairly constant. The R/S statistic was found to perform better than the FA and the linear DFA used in the analysis.

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Available abstract

Monthly rainfall data of twenty-one years (1980 – 2000) were analyzed for the six regions of Nigeria using the rescaled range (R/S) statistic, the standard fluctuation analysis (FA) and the detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). The results indicated that the distribution of monthly rainfall has a Hurst exponent of 1 in the short term which is an evidence of self-organized criticality,and a Hurst exponent of about 0.5 in the long run which is an evidence of a random walk. The Hurst exponents decreased from around 1 for small window sizes and reached 0.5 after 36 months and then remained fairly constant. The R/S statistic was found to perform better than the FA and the linear DFA used in the analysis.

Key concepts: Detrended fluctuation analysis, Hurst exponent, Rescaled range, Statistic, Self-organized criticality, Statistics, Mathematics, Criticality

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