Seeking an Auto Discovery Cycle Duration

A while back I needed a quick way to compare soundings. I coded a few simple VBA instructions to do this. I was happy, I could study daily soundings from many stations and come up with a perceived cycle length. Using this tool became stale however and I felt I was staring and comparing like I had been doing with maps in the past. With some statistical motivation I am now seeking correlation in the sounding data.

Admittedly I had no idea what was going to result from correlating two cycles of sounding data. I gathered the data and looped it through a 30-60 day period. To the surprise of myself and another, it produced a spectacular looking sine wave. The data represent 20 sounding stations throughout the states of ND, SD, NE, KS, MO, IA, MN, WI, MI, IL, OH, PA, NY and MA. Station locations are color coded. Purple represents the region that is farthest west. Red represents the region that is the farthest east. The top chart displays the regional average correlation. The bottom chart displays the individual station correlation. This particular sample time frame begins 10/1/2006.



Taking the absolute value of the correlation coefficient measures the strength of the relationship. A correlation coefficient of 0.50 indicates a stronger degree of linear relationship than one of 0.40. Likewise a correlation coefficient of -0.50 shows a greater degree of relationship than one of -0.40. Thus a correlation coefficient of zero (0.0) indicates the absence of a linear relationship and correlation coefficients of +1.0 and -1.0 indicate a perfect linear relationship.

With this application the positive, zero, and negative values each hold significant meaning in regard to standing wave harmonics. The results prove to me that cycle duration with auto discovery is obtainable. More to come.

If there are any questions, comments, or suggestions on the material presented please let me know. Thanks for reading!