The main objective of this study is to assess the current climatic conditions in northeastern region of Brazil and to obtain some climatic scenarios for the years 2050 and 2100. Time series of mean air temperature and rainfall from 1961 to 2007 period and 89 stations in the study region were used. The non-parametric test of Mann-Kendall was used to assess the statistical significance level of the analyzed time series. Also, the software SEVAP was used to determine potential evapotranspiration, humidity index, aridity index and water index. Results showed an increasing trend in the time series of air temperature, which were statistically significant by the Mann-Kendall test, for the current period and for the 2050 and 2100 scenarios. Mean air temperature has its highest rate for the current period and for the 2050 scenarios and a reduced increase between the 2050 and 2100 scenarios. The aridity and water indexes indicated an increase while the humidity index showed a reduction for two analyzed scenarios in northeastern region of Brazil, principally in the semiarid area.
potencial evapotranspiration; arid index; Mann-Kendall test
