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Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., 3, 1407-1417, 2006
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Modeling geophysical complexity: a case for geometric determinism

C. E. Puente and B. Sivakumar
1Department of Land, Air & Water Resources, University of California, Davis, USA

Abstract. It has been customary in the last few decades to employ stochastic models to represent complex data sets encountered in geophysics, particularly in hydrology. This article reviews a deterministic geometric procedure to data modeling, one that represents whole data sets as derived distributions of simple multifractal measures via fractal functions. It is shown how such a procedure may lead to faithful holistic representations of existing geophysical data sets that, while complementing existing representations via stochastic methods, may also provide a compact language for geophysical complexity. The implications of these ideas, both scientific and philosophical, are stressed.

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Citation: Puente, C. E. and Sivakumar, B.: Modeling geophysical complexity: a case for geometric determinism, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., 3, 1407-1417, 2006.   Bibtex   EndNote   Reference Manager