Rainfall zoning of Bahia State, Brazil: an update proposal

Abstract

The state of Bahia’s main climatic characteristic is the high spatial and chronological variability of precipitation. This heterogeneity may be used to determine of pluviometrically homogeneous areas that can define mesoregions in the state, since they allow better management of water resources and help in the elaboration of agricultural studies. The mesoregions already proposed by the scientific community for the state were based only on the annual precipitation in the proximity of the pluviometric stations. In this paper, besides these parameters, spatial and chronological rainfall distribution was considered, i.e., the Precipitation Concentration Degree (PCD) and Precipitation Concentration Period (PCP). The new zoning is based on an update of a study defined in 2000 that divided Bahia into eight mesoregions. Thus, 180 pluviometric stations were distributed throughout the state and grouped conforming to the division previously described. It was concluded that some stations of the same mesoregion had presented conflicting values for the analyzed parameters and, therefore, should not belong to the same area. Starting from an arrangement of the collection stations, considering their proximity, annual precipitation and statistical parameters, a new zoning for Bahia with 10 clusters was defined and validated through the statistical treatment of data.

Keywords

• clusters
• mesoregions
• precipitation variability