Abstract
The concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere has increased dramatically since the industrial revolution, which led to intensification of the greenhouse effect and thus global warming. The spatial trend analysis allows us to observe changes in behavior and determine which region a given variable has suffered significant changes over time. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze trends in time series to rainfall and mean temperature in Brazil using the Contextual Mann-Kendall method (CMK), using data produced by spatially distributed Climatic Research Unit (CRU), between 1961 and 2011. The relative humidity and potential evapotranspiration were used to help understand the results. The results showed no significant trends in over 70% of the Brazilian territory in all months in the precipitation, but the mean temperature showed a significant positive trend in much of Brazil throughout the year. In general, evapotranspiration presented a behavior directly proportional to the temperature, while the relative humidity had an inversely proportional behavior. The continuation of these trends could result in impacts on population, agriculture, water cycle, fauna and flora.
Keywords:
trend analysis; Mann-Kendall; meteorological variables; GIS
