Abstract ID: 208

Rainfall trends in Amazon basin in the past 6 to 8 decades

Monthly totals of raingauge measurements of about 15 stations in the Amazon basin are compiled from two sources: Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia (INMET) and Global Data System (GDS) of the National Climate Data Center (NCDC). Only the stations with at least 50 years of continuous or interrupted data are considered in this study. The wet and dry seasons for the stations are determined. The annual rainfall, wet-season rainfall and dry-season rainfall series are prepared for each of the stations. The linear trends of rainfall for the three sets are obtained for the stations separately. The rainfall climatologies before 1970 and after 1970 are calculated to verify if there are appreciable differences. The series before 1970 and after 1970 are tested for the difference in their medians. Stations in the western most Amazonas state showed decreasing trend and the stations in the eastern Amazon showed increasing trend. On the whole, there is no strong evidence for believing that the rainfall regime in the Amazon basin is undergoing appreciable change.

Session:  LCLUC and Human Dimensions - Current and future trends of land-use/land-cover change and agricultural intensification.

Presentation Type:  Poster