SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION AND TEMPORAL TRENDS IN RAINFALL IN MATO GROSSO DO SUL, BRAZIL

Abstract

Knowing the spatiotemporal patterns of precipitation is essential to quantify water supply, flood control, soil erosion, and the possibility of drought in a particular region. In addition, rainfall is the most important climatological variable in the tropical region. Although an increase in problems related to extreme rainfall events has occurred over the last several decades in Brazil, few studies have been conducted investigating rainfall trends in this country. Therefore, the objective of this work was to evaluate the spatial and temporal variability of rainfall in Mato Grosso do Sul State (Brazil), during the dry season (May to September) and rainy season (October to April) over four decades. For that, initially, a linear regression analysis was applied to identify the direction of the monotonic tendency of the precipitation. Next, the trends were investigated using the nonparametric Mann-Kendall trend method. The Pettitt test was also employed to identify any changes in the time series of precipitation. For the spatial distribution of rainfall data, the Ordinary Kriging was used. The results demonstrated that the western region of the state (Pantanal south-mato-grossense) showed a significant negative trend of precipitation in the rainy season.

Keywords

• Spatiotemporal analysis
• precipitation pattern
• temporal variability
• tropical region
• trend analysis