Trends in annual and seasonal temperature and precipitation extremes in campina grande - pb

ABSTRACT

Due to the rapid urban expansion and tourism potential of the region the objective of this study was to obtain the temporal distribution of extreme climatic indices dependent on daily temperature and precipitation which were defined by WMO for the period 1975-2011, and by using the non-parametric statistical tests to obtain the magnitude of the trends for the studied indices at the Campina Grande city - PB. The results showed that the minimum and maximum daily temperatures have increased gradually over the last decades, showing increased seasonal trends over the years and minimum temperatures experienced a greater trend increase. The number of warmer daytimes and nights per year has increased, thereby providing a significant reduction in colder daytimes and nights. It was observed that the minimum and maximum temperatures have higher trends of increase in the fall and spring seasons, respectively. Based on extreme precipitation indices, although not statistically significant, it was observed that heavy rains tend to increase, occurring in a shorter period of time.

Keywords:
global warming; IPCC; urbanization; semi-arid