Multifractal detrended cross-correlation analysis of wind speed and solar radiation

Abstract

In this work, the multifractal properties of wind speed and solar radiation are studied in a small region in which a wide variety of micro-climates are concentrated. To achieve this, two years of hourly data are analyzed in Guadeloupe archipelago. The four selected stations for wind speed were chosen according to trade winds direction, while solar radiation is recorded at a representative location at the center of the island. First, the results of the multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA) showed the multifractal and persistent behaviors of wind speed at all locations. Due to the continental effect that increases along the transect, the Hurst exponent (H) values decrease from east to west. In addition, the MF-DFA clearly highlighted the presence of a nocturnal radiative layer that weakens wind speed in the surface layer. The multifractality degree [Δ h (q)] values confirm the peculiarity of wind speed regimes at the center of the island. Thereafter, the MF-DFA results of solar radiation exhibited its multifractal and persistent behavior. Due to the solar radiation planetary scale, its Δ h (q) is lower than those obtained for wind speed, which strongly depends on synoptic and local scales. The source of multifractality of wind speed and solar radiation is due to correlations of small and large fluctuations. Finally, the results of the multifractal detrended cross-correlation analysis between wind speed and solar radiation pointed out that the multifractal cross-correlation degree [Δ h x y (q)] is identical for each site, which is not the case for Hurst exponent values.