TEMPORAL STATISTICS: AN APPLICATION IN SNOWFALL CLIMATOLOGY |
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Authors: | John A Harrington Jr Randall S Cerveny |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Earth Sciences , New Mexico State University , Las Cruces, New Mexico 88003;2. Department of Geography , Arizona State University , Tempe, Arizona 85287 |
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Abstract: | A method is introduced for the analysis of temporal distributions of climatic data based on a comparison of a variable's frequency distribution in the time dimension to a standard bell-shaped curve through time. The following statistics are defined using mean monthly snowfall data: the temporal mean, which is the average time for accumulation of 50% of the annual snowfall total; the temporal standard deviation, which characterizes the mean annual spread of snowfall accumulation about the mean; temporal skewness, which characterizes the symmetry of the annual snowfall distribution; temporal kurtosis, which measures the peakedness of the annual distribution; and temporal correlation, which quantifies the degree of association between two temporal distributions. Analysis of snowfall data demonstrates the utility of temporal statistics for quantifying temporal and geographic variations in a climatic variable's seasonal distribution. Key words: snowfall, climatology, temporal statistics.] |
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Keywords: | alpine tundra carbon climate change decomposition timberline |
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