Cluster Analysis Applied to Spatiotemporal Variability of Monthly Precipitation over Paraíba State Using Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Data

Autor: Celso Augusto Guimarães Santos, Reginaldo Moura Brasil Neto, Richarde Marques da Silva, Samir Gonçalves Fernandes Costa
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
Zdroj: Remote Sensing, Vol 11, Iss 6, p 637 (2019)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2072-4292
DOI: 10.3390/rs11060637
Popis: In Paraíba state, precipitation is strongly affected by several climate systems, such as trade winds, the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ), easterly wave disturbances (EWDs), and the South Atlantic subtropical high. Accordingly, the objective of this study was to analyze the spatiotemporal variability in precipitation to identify homogeneous trends of that variable and the effects of climate systems in Paraíba state by cluster analysis. The precipitation data used in this study derive from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite for the period from January 1998 to December 2015, and hierarchical clustering was used to classify the sites into different groups with similar trends. The findings show an uneven spatiotemporal precipitation distribution in all mesoregions of the state and considerable monthly precipitation variation in space. The estimated precipitation depth was highest in coastal regions and in high-altitude areas due to orographic precipitation. In general, the precipitation over Paraíba is characterized by strong gradients in the coastal zone towards the continent (Agreste, Borborema, and Sertão mesoregions) and from north to south due to the physiography of the region and the effects of climate systems with different time scales. Finally, the proposed clustering method using TRMM data was effective in characterizing climatic systems.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals
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