Multi-fractal scaling comparison of the Air Temperature and the Surface Temperature over China

The spatial and temporal multi-scaling behaviors between the daily Air Temperature (AT) and the Surface Temperature (ST) over China are compared in about 60-yr observations by Multi-fractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (MF-DFA) method. The different fractal phenomena and diversity features in the geographic distribution are found for the AT and ST series using MF-DFA. There are more multi-fractal features for the AT records but less for ST. The respective geographic sites show important scaling differences when compared to the multi-fractal signatures of AT with ST. An interval threshold for 95% confidence level is obtained by shuffling the AT records and the ST records. For the AT records, 93% of all observed stations shows the strong multi-fractal behaviors. In addition, the multi-fractal characteristics decrease with increasing latitude in South China and are obviously strong along the coast. The multi-fractal behaviors of the AT records between the Yangtze River and Yellow River basin and in most regions of Northwest China seem to be weak and not significant, even single mono-fractal features. However, for the ST records, the geographical distributions of multi-fractal phenomenon seem to be in disorder which account for 81% of the stations. The weak multi-fractal behaviors of the ST records are concentrated in North China, most regions of Northeast China.