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Comparison of rainfall time series over South Africa generated from real data and through principal component analysis
Author(s) -
Harrison M. S. J.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
journal of climatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.58
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-0088
pISSN - 0196-1748
DOI - 10.1002/joc.3370040511
Subject(s) - principal component analysis , series (stratigraphy) , climatology , time series , temperate climate , meteorology , satellite imagery , variance (accounting) , environmental science , geography , statistics , mathematics , geology , paleontology , botany , biology , accounting , business
Time series (scores) of rainfall from cloud bands across South Africa, generated through S‐mode principal component analysis, are compared with equivalent estimated time series developed from satellite imagery and surface data. The cloud bands, which link the tropical and temperate circulations, accounted for the highest explained rainfall variance over the interior of South Africa in the principal component analysis. For most summer months the principal component scores are useful first approximations to the true time series.