Characterizing memory in atmospheric time series. An alternative approach based on renewal theory

Atmospheric dynamics originates persistent and/or intermittent structuresspanning over several spatial and temporal scales. The dynamical instabilitiestrigger abrupt transitions between these meteorological structures. An approachbased on the theory of renewal processes is proposed to describe these criticaltransition events. An alternative statistical analysis to qualitatively estimatethe memory content of atmospheric time series is reviewed and an application toturbulence data in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer is illustrated. The connectionbetween the proposed analysis and the assumption of a local flux-gradientrelationship is also discussed.