Rainfall Variability in January in the Federal District of Brazil from 1981 to 2010

• Main Authors: Valdir Adilson Steinke, Luis Alberto Martins Palhares de Melo, Ercília Torres Steinke
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2017-08-01
• Series: Climate
• Subjects: time series; rain; Federal District; Brazil
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2225-1154/5/3/68

The Federal District is a politically and economically important part of Brazil, which suffers from water stress. Exploratory analyzes were conducted using data on rainfall in the Federal District from the monthly precipitation time series to assess the rainfall variability in January, a month that falls in the middle of the rainy season in the region. A time series of 30 years (1981–2010), recorded at 19 rain gauges was analyzed. The resulting exploratory analyses show a gradient of increasing rainfall in the westward direction in the Federal District. Moreover, the time series shows a moderate inter-annual variability in rainfall volume, which is, however, of a stationary nature.