  We suggest a new approach to probing intermittency corrections to the
Kolmogorov law in turbulent flows based on the Auto-Regressive Moving-Average
modeling of turbulent time series. We introduce a new index $\Upsilon$ that
measures the distance from a Kolmogorov-Obukhov model in the Auto-Regressive
Moving-Average models space. Applying our analysis to Particle Image
Velocimetry and Laser Doppler Velocimetry measurements in a von K\'arm\'an
swirling flow, we show that $\Upsilon$ is proportional to the traditional
intermittency correction computed from the structure function. Therefore it
provides the same information, using much shorter time series. We conclude that
$\Upsilon$ is a suitable index to reconstruct the spatial intermittency of the
dissipation in both numerical and experimental turbulent fields.
