Multifractality of Brazilian rivers

• Published in: Journal of hydrology (Amsterdam) Vol. 495; pp. 208 - 215
• Main Authors: Rego, C.R.C., Frota, H.O., Gusmão, M.S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier B.V 12-07-2013; Elsevier
• Subjects: Brazil; Brazilian rivers; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; Exponents; Fluctuation; Freshwater; Hydrology; Hydrology. Hydrogeology; MF-DFA; Multifractality; Rivers; Scaling laws; Stations; Water level; Water resources; South America; Brazil; Water level; Multifractality; Brazilian rivers; MF-DFA; rivers; fluctuations; water resource management
• ISSN: 0022-1694; 1879-2707
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2013.04.046

•We use the Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis to study water levels.•We model 16 Brazilian hydrological stations situated in 12 rivers.•We obtain the generalized Hurst exponents for water level time series.•All the analyzed series demonstrate multifractality and nonstationary behavior.•We use the multiplicative cascade model equation to fit the spectra of the exponents.
We use the Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (MF-DFA) to study the complex water fluctuations of some of the principal Brazilian rivers. We obtain the generalized Hurst exponents for the series of water level of 16 hydrological stations, situated in cities of different climatic zones in Brazil. From this analysis, we can state that all the series analyzed demonstrate multifractality and nonstationary behavior. This paper shows that it is possible to treat the Brazilian river water levels from the multifractal perspective and thereby to have a better understanding of the complex behavior of the scaling laws present within these series.