Dry Spells in Brazil: Observations and Modelling (CMIP5)

Abstract

In South America, the water disponibility in several regions is a limit condition on socioeconomic development. More constant impacts are observed in social and economic areas due to the drought, for example, in the Northeast of Brazil (NEB) and Central West of Brazil (COB), mainly in activities such as agriculture, animal husbandry, electricity distribution and Water supply and tourism. The objective of this work is to investigate quantitatively and qualitatively the characteristics of five and ten day dry spells in Brazil during the southern seasons and the relation of these drought events in climatic contrasts such as El Niño, La Niña in the Tropical Pacific (1971-1999) and future period (2021-2050) with the aim of improving the knowledge of the seasonal variation of rainfall in the country with emphasis on the dry spells to potentiate socioeconomic actions that depend on their variability with less scratches. Data of daily precipitation (1971-1999) from the National Center Environment Prediction - Climate Prediction Center - NCEP - CPC of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the United States on Brazil were used in grid points (1° x 1° of latitude and longitude). For the comparisons with these observed data and for the future periods will be used of the CMIP5 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5th Phase) project, using daily precipitation data of models in the periods 1971-1999 and projected for the Period: 2021-2050, with configurations of the RCP8.5 experiment to analyze the current observed variability of in Brazil and its future projections. The results showed that for the period 2021-2050 compared to the 1971-1999 observations, the CMIP5 models projected a higher probability of more 10 events to dry spells of ten days in the COB and more events minor or equal the five days to five days dry spells over the NEB to summer and autumn season.

Keywords:
precipitation; dry spell; El Niño; La Niña; projections