Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Rainfall trends in the Brazilian Amazon Basin in the past eight decades

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Theoretical and Applied Climatology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Rainfall series at 18 stations along the major rivers of the Brazilian Amazon Basin, having data since 1920s or 1930s, are analyzed to verify if there are appreciable long-term trends. Annual, rainy-season, and dry-season rainfalls are individually analyzed for each station and for the region as a whole. Some stations showed positive trends and some negative trends. The trends in the annual rainfall are significant at only six stations, five of which reporting increasing trends (Barcelos, Belem, Manaus, Rio Branco, and Soure stations) and just one (Itaituba station) reporting decreasing trend. The climatological values of rainfall before and after 1970 show significant differences at six stations (Barcelos, Belem, Benjamin Constant, Iaurete, Itaituba, and Soure). The region as a whole shows an insignificant and weak downward trend; therefore, we cannot affirm that the rainfall in the Brazilian Amazon basin is experiencing a significant change, except at a few individual stations. Subregions with upward and downward trends are interspersed in space from the far eastern Amazon to western Amazon. Most of the seasonal trends follow the annual trends, thus, indicating a certain consistency in the datasets and analysis.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Artaxo P, Oliveira PH, Lara LL, Pauliquevis TM, Rizzo LV, Pires Junior C, Paixão MA (2006) Efeitos climáticos de partículas de aerossóis biogênicos e emitidos em queimadas na Amazônia. (Climatic effects of biogenic aerosols emitted in Amazon forest fires). Revista Brasileira de Meteorologia 21:168–222

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, T. C., E. S. Takle, J. H. Yoon, K. J. Croix, and P. Hsieh, 2003: Impacts on South America rainfall due to changes in global circulation. In: proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Southern Hemisphere Meteorology and Oceanography. Amer. Meteorol. Soc., Boston, USA. p 92-93

  • Correia FWS, Alvalá RCS, Manzi AO (2007) Modeling the impacts of land cover change in Amazônia: a regional climate model (RCM) simulation study. Theor Appl Climatol. doi:10.1007/s00704-007-0335-z

    Google Scholar 

  • Costa MH, Foley JA (2000) Combined effect of deforestation and doubled atmospheric CO2 concentrations on the climate of Amazonia. J Climate 13:18–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hollander M, Wolfe DA (1973) Nonparametric statistical methods. Wiley, Hoboken, p 503 ISBN 047140635x

    Google Scholar 

  • IPCC (2007) Climate change 2007: The physical science basis, summary for policy makers. IPCC, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  • Li W, Fu R, Negrón Juarez RI, Fernandes K (2008) Observed change of the standardized precipitation index, its potential cause and applications to future climate change in the Amazon region. Phil Trans Roy Soc B363:1767–1772. doi:10.1098/rstb.2007.0022

    Google Scholar 

  • Mahli Y, Wright J (2004) Spatial patterns and recent trends in the climate of tropical rainforest regions. Phil Trans Roy Soc B359:311–329. doi:10.1098/rstb.2003.1433

    Google Scholar 

  • Marengo JA (2004) Interdecadal variability and trends of rainfall across the Amazon basin. Theor Appl Climatol. doi:10.1007/s00704-004-0045-8

    Google Scholar 

  • Oliveira GS, Nobre C, Costa MH, Satyamurty P, Soares Filho BS, Cardoso M (2007) Regional climate change over eastern Amazônia caused by pasture and soybean cropland expansion. Geophys. Res. Lett. 34:LI7709. doi:10.1029/2007GL030612

    Google Scholar 

  • Partal T, Kahya E (2006) Trend analysis in Turkish precipitation data. Hydrol Process 20:2011–2026

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Satyamurty, P., C. A. Nobre, P. L. Silva Dias, 1998: Tropics - South America. In: D. J. Karoly; D. G. Vincent. (Org.). Meteorology and Hydrology of the Southern Hemisphere. Boston: Meteorology Monograph, v. 49, p. 119-139

  • Sud YC, Chao W, Walker G (1993) Dependence of rainfall on vegetation: Theoretical considerations, simulation experiments, observations, and inferences from simulated atmospheric soundings. J Arid Environ 25:5–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilks DS (2006) Statistical methods in the atmospheric sciences, 2nd edn. Elsevier, Amsterdam, p 627

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu ZX, Takeuchi K, Ishidaira H (2003) Monotonic trend and step changes in Japanese precipitation. J Hydrol 279:144–150

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The first author is supported by the “Amazonas Senior Fellowship” from FAPEAM in the period July 2007 through June 2008. The authors are grateful to David Adams for critically going through the manuscript and the Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia for providing the datasets used in this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. LBA Program, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus, Brazil

    Prakki Satyamurty, Aline Anderson de Castro, Julio Tota & Antonio Ocimar Manzi

  2. Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia (INMET), Manaus, Brazil

    Lucia Eliane da Silva Gularte

  3. Centro de Previsão de Tempo e Estudos Climaticos (CPTEC), Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE), São José dos Campos, Brazil

    Prakki Satyamurty

Authors
  1. Prakki Satyamurty
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Aline Anderson de Castro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Julio Tota
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Lucia Eliane da Silva Gularte
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Antonio Ocimar Manzi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Prakki Satyamurty.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Satyamurty, P., de Castro, A.A., Tota, J. et al. Rainfall trends in the Brazilian Amazon Basin in the past eight decades. Theor Appl Climatol 99, 139–148 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-009-0133-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-009-0133-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation