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No description available.

Deterministic and stochastic weighting methods are commonly used methods for estimating missing precipitation rain gauge data based on values recorded at neighboring gauges. However, these spatial interpolation methods seldom check for their ability to preserve site and regional statistics. Such statistics and primarily defined by spatial correlations and other site-to-site statistics in a region. Preservation of site and regional statistics represents a means of assessing the validity of missing precipitation estimates at a site. This study evaluates the efficacy of traditional interpolation methods for estimation of missing data in preserving site and regional statistics. New optimal spatial interpolation methods intended to preserve these statistics are also proposed and evaluated in this study. Rain gauge sites in the state of Kentucky are used as a case study, and several error and performance measures are used to evaluate the trade-offs in accuracy of estimation and preservation of site and regional statistics. / by Husayn El Sharif. / Thesis (M.S.C.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

Strong seasonality is observed in the volatile hourly Alberta temperature and its low- and high-order statistical moments. We propose a time series model consisting of a linear combination of an annual sinusoidal model, a diurnal sinusoidal model and a fractional residual model, to study the characteristics of these spatial and time-dependent Alberta temperatures. Wavelet multi-resolution analysis is used to measure Hurst exponents of the temperature series. Our empirical results show that these Hurst exponents vary over various time scales, indicating the existence of multi-fractality in the temperatures. Such temperature models are of importance for the pricing and insurance of agricultural crops, of tourist resorts and of all forms of energy extraction and generation of importance to the resource-based economy of Alberta. Of particular interests are the observed extreme volatilities in the winters, caused by the unpredictable Chinook winds, which may be an important reason to introduce a Chinook insurance option. / 64 leaves : map ; 29 cm