Multifractality of a high resolution rainfall time series and assessement of the zero rain rate effect from standard and weighted analysis procedures

This study investigates the scaling and multifractal properties of a high-resolution (15-s) rainfall time series, recorded by the means of a spectropluviometer (DBS). This dataset enables the exploration of fine scales of rain processes that have often been neglected or underestimated in scaling/multifractal literature where the resolutions usually available are far coarser (typically, 1-h or 1-day). Therefore, the DBS dataset may provide valuable information on the underexplored internal structure of uninterrupted rain events. Moreover, it is recalled that multifractal analysis techniques are sensitive to the proportion of zeros in the data, which may be a source of errors in multifractal characterization of rainfall processes, where most dataset points contain zero values. Empirical and theoretical solutions are proposed in order to correct this kind of errors