Fractal analysis of elevation data based on the method of minimal coverings

The article presents an attempt to apply fractal analysis to the study of relief as one of the most important factors in modeling of various processes and phenomena. The estimates of the fractal index for the surface relief of the major cities’ neighborhoods in Russia and all over the world, as well as for the areas with different types of relief (mountains, lowlands, hills, plateaus, ocean bottom) have been obtained on the basis of the method of minimum coverings. It is established that the fractal index is higher for the flat terrain than for the mountainous one. The examples of fractal analysis application include the research of correlation between fractal characteristics of relief with average number of stormy days in a year and with relative forest area.