A MULTIOBJECTIVE FUZZY CLASSIFICATION OF LARGE-SCALE ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION PATTERNS FOR PRECIPITATION MODELING

A multi-objective fuzzy rule-based classification (MOFRBC) technique i s applied in order to cluster and classify daily large scale atmospher ic circulation patterns (CPs) and analyze the relationship between the CPs and local precipitation. The methodology is illustrated by means of an Arizona case study. For this purpose, three indices are calculat ed to measure the information content of the clustering method in term s of predicted precipitation. A thorough sensitivity analysis is provi ded to gain more understanding on the robustness of MOFRBC model. Furt hermore, it is shown that extending the daily premises to two-day and three-day sequences of CPs improves the information content of the cla ssification. The results are also compared with the original subjectiv e clustering. For the Arizona case study MOFRBC seems to be a competit ive technique with the advantage that the physical aspects can be bett er represented by fuzzy rules (which tend to mimic the human way of de cision making) than by objective methods. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science In c. All rights reserved.