Agro-meteorological quantities are often in the form of time series, and knowledge about their temporal scaling properties is fundamental for transferring locally measured fluctuations to larger scales and vice versa. However, the scaling analysis of these quantities is complicated due to the presence of localized trends and nonstationarities. The objective of this study was to characterise scaling properties (i.e. statistical self-similarity) of the chosen agro-meteorological quantities through multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MFDFA). For this purpose, MFDFA was performed with 11 322 measured time series (31 yr) of daily air temperature, wind velocity, relative air humidity, global radiation and precipitation from stations located in Finland, Germany, Poland and Spain. The empirical singularity spectra indicated their multifractal structure. The richness of the studied multifractals was evaluated by the width of their spectrum, indicating considerable differences in dynamics and development. In log-log plots of the cumulative distributions of all meteorological parameters the linear functions prevailed for high values of the response, indicating that these distributions were consistent with power-law asymptotic behaviour. Additionally, we investigated the type of multifractality that underlies the q-dependence of the generalized Hurst exponent by analysing the corresponding shuffled and surrogate time series. For most of the studied meteorological parameters, the multifractality is due to different long-range correlations for small and large fluctuations. Only for precipitation does the multifractality result mainly from broad probability function. This feature may be especially valuable for assessing the effect of change in climate dynamics.

The article examines characteristics of meteorological and runoff time-series collected from the Scott Glacier catchment, Svalbard, during 2005 and2006. The river discharge of Scottelva (Scott River) was monitored at a gauging station situated near the mouth of Recherche Fjord. Meteorological time-series (i.e. air temperature and precipitation) were monitored in Calypsobyen. The analysis shows interrelationships between meteorological and hydrological time-series, and that the runoff of Scottelva depends on the amount and intensity of glacial ablation. Total ablation for the Scott Glacier was estimated at 63.9 cm water equivalent in the 2005 season and 98.2 cm water equivalent in the 2006 season. A total of 64% and 72% of the discharge from the Scottelva in the respective 2005 and 2006 seasons came from surface ablation of the glacier.

The article presents results of measurements of bedload transport rate, performed during the ablation season 2010 in the gravel-bed Scott River catchment (Svalbard). The study revealed temporal and spatial variability of bedload transport rate. It varied from 0. , and the mean value at individual sites varied from 0.004 to 0.16 g m −1 s −1 for a 24-hour interval. In the period analysed, the river discharged a total of approx. 1834 kg of bedload, with mean daily bedload transport rate (Q b ) of approx. 63 kg day -1 . The volume and rate of bedload transport were dependent on hydrodynamic conditions and stream regime, directly related to weather. Also the effect of Scott Glacier retreat on discharge rate was emphasised, along with the indicative character of bedload transport rate. It responds to changes in the tempo and magnitude of processes in a glacial catchment quite rapidly, and therefore can be treated as a good indicator of transformations occurring in the arctic zone.

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