Multifractal analysis of the time series of daily means of wind speed in complex regions

In this paper, we applied the multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis to the daily means of wind speed measured by 119 weather stations distributed over the territory of Switzerland. The analysis was focused on the inner time fluctuations of wind speed, which could be linked with the local conditions of the highly varying topography of Switzerland. Our findings point out to a persistent behaviour of almost all measured wind speed series (indicated by a Hurst exponent larger than 0.5), and to a high multifractality degree indicating a relative dominance of the large fluctuations in the dynamics of wind speed, especially on the Swiss Plateau, which is comprised between the Jura and Alps mountain ranges. The study represents a contribution to the understanding of the dynamical mechanisms of wind speed variability in mountainous regions. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.