Decadal oscillations in rainfall and air temperature in the Paute river basin-southern andes of Ecuador

In the Andes environment, rainfall and temperature can be extremely variable in space and time. The determination of climate variability and climate change needs a special assessment for water management. This paper examines the anomalies of observed monthly rainfall and temperature data from 25 to...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Mora, Diego, Willems, Patrick
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2012
País:Ecuador
Recursos:Universidad de Cuenca
Repositorio:Repositorio Universidad de Cuenca
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:dspace.ucuenca.edu.ec:123456789/22170
Acesso em linha:http://dspace.ucuenca.edu.ec/handle/123456789/22170
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Rio Paute
Azuay
Ecuador
Precipitaciones
Descrição
Resumo:In the Andes environment, rainfall and temperature can be extremely variable in space and time. The determination of climate variability and climate change needs a special assessment for water management. This paper examines the anomalies of observed monthly rainfall and temperature data from 25 to 16 stations, respectively, from the early 1960s to the 1990s. The stations are located in the Rio Paute Basin in the Ecuador’s Southern Andes. All stations are within the elevation band 1,800 and 4,200 m a.s.l. and affected by the Tropical Pacific, Amazon, and Tropical Atlantic climate. Anomalies in quantiles were determined for each station and their significance tested. In addition, their correlations with different external climatic influences were studied for anomalies in annual and 3-month seasonal block periods. The results show similar temperature variations for the entire region, which are highly influenced by the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, especially during the December–February season. During June–August, the correlation is weaker showing the influence of other climate factors. Higher temperature anomalies are found at the high elevation sites while at deep valley sites the anomalies are less significant. Rainfall variations depend, in addition to elevation, on additional factors such as the aspect orientation, slope, and hydrological regime. The highest and most significant rainfall anomalies are found in the eastern sites.