We investigated , through numerical models , the flaring variability that may arise from the rotation of maser clouds of approximately spheroidal geometry , ranging from strongly oblate to strongly prolate examples .
Inversion solutions were obtained for each of these examples over a range of saturation levels from unsaturated to highly saturated .
Formal solutions were computed for rotating clouds with many randomly chosen rotation axes , and corresponding averaged maser light curves plotted with statistical information .
The dependence of results on the level of saturation and on the degree of deformation from the spherical case were investigated in terms of a variability index and duty cycle .
It may be possible to distinguish observationally between flares from oblate and prolate objects .
Maser flares from rotation are limited to long timescales ( at least a few years ) and modest values of the variability index ( \lesssim 100 ) , and can be aperiodic or quasi-periodic .
Rotation is therefore not a good model for H _ { 2 } O variability on timescales of weeks to months , or of truly periodic flares .