Abstract
We present a detailed study of an objective technique based on the structure function. This technique is used to extract quantitative information of the structures present in meteorological fields and is useful as an initial step in data processing. In previous studies, responses have been only described for infinite domains. However, these responses may be strongly affected by the presence of boundaries. We have investigated the effects of applying the structure function objective technique to limited-area fields. We have used a functional representation of meteorological fields and developed a scheme to obtain the analytical responses of these theoretical limited-area fields. The structure function responses of one- and two-dimensional linear fields and waves have been obtained. We found that the final responses are influenced not only by the kind of structure but also by the boundaries, and that these boundary effects become important when the wavelengths of the structures present are larger than the size of the limited area.
