Rain Characterization of Catolé do Rocha Micro-Region in the State of Paraíba Based on Applied Statistics

Abstract

Rainfall series obtained from 1910 to 2016 in eleven locations over Catolé do Rocha region, State of Paraíba, Brazil, have been analyzed to draw a better climate profile of the region. For this, the Rainfall Anomaly Index (RAI) and additional statistical tools were used. The results obtained suggest that the variability in rainfall, humidity patterns, as well as in normal, wet, dry periods, and their extremes, are in connection with the years of El Niño and La Niña. The pluviometric regime has been characterized by irregularities with a significant trend of decreasing rainfall in the period considered. The logistic probability distribution adequately represents the region's rainfall, with a p-value of 0.994 for a significance level of 0.05.

Keywords:
ENOS; climatic variability; probability distribution