Ambient temperature fluctuations exhibit inverse-cubic spectral behavior over time scales from a minute to a day

Abstract

Ambient temperature fluctuations are of importance in a wide variety of scientific and technological arenas. In a series of experiments carried out in our laboratory over an 18-month period, we discovered that these fluctuations exhibit $1/f^3$ spectral behavior over the frequency range $1.0\times 10^{-5}\le f\le 2.5\times 10^{-2}$ Hz, corresponding to $40$ s $\le T_f\le 1.2$ d, where $T_f=1/f$. This result emerges over a broad range of conditions. For longer time periods, $1.2<T_f\le 11.6$ d, corresponding to the frequency range $1.0\times 10^{-6}\le f<1.0\times 10^{-5}$ Hz, we observed $1/f^2$ spectral behavior. This latter result is in agreement with that observed in data collected at European weather stations. Scalograms computed from our data are consistent with the periodograms.

11 pages, 4 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1911.08466