An approach to seasonal forecasting of summer rainfall in Buenos Aires, Argentina

This paper analyzes some summer rainfall characteristics in Buenos Aires and developes a seasonal prediction scheme. Buenos Aires is located along the coast of the Río de la Plata in Argentina. The outstanding rainfall feature is the presence of an annual cycle with maximum precipitation in summer....

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Autor principal: Gonzalez, Marcela Hebe
Publicado: 2009
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Acceso en línea:https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_01876236_v22_n3_p265_Gonzalez
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_01876236_v22_n3_p265_Gonzalez
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spelling paper:paper_01876236_v22_n3_p265_Gonzalez2023-06-08T15:19:42Z An approach to seasonal forecasting of summer rainfall in Buenos Aires, Argentina Gonzalez, Marcela Hebe Pattern circulation Rainfall Sea surface temperature Standarized precipitation index Statistical prediction model correlation model validation precipitation intensity prediction quantitative analysis rainfall raingauge regression analysis sea surface temperature seasonal variation summer trend analysis weather forecasting Argentina Atlantic Ocean Buenos Aires [Argentina] Rio de la Plata South America This paper analyzes some summer rainfall characteristics in Buenos Aires and developes a seasonal prediction scheme. Buenos Aires is located along the coast of the Río de la Plata in Argentina. The outstanding rainfall feature is the presence of an annual cycle with maximum precipitation in summer. The analysis of the annual rainfall evolution since 1908 showed a positive trend of 2.1 mm/year and 1.8 mm/year for the period between December and February, representative of the summer season. The Observatorio Central Buenos Aires/station, located in the downtown, registered a mean annual accumulated rainfall of 1070 mm with a standard deviation of 239 mm, during the period 1908-2007. The mean accumulated precipitation during January, February and March was 305 mm with a standard deviation of 125 mm. The wet and dry periods were identified and the dry periods tended to be longer during 1908-1957 meanwhile wet periods resulted longer and more intense in 1958-2007. Accumulated rainfall between December and February was related to some mean meteorological variables between September and November, with the aim to develop a statistical prediction scheme. Careful selection of predictors, based largely on physical reasoning, was done and they were used in a regression model, following a forward stepwise methodology. The analysis shows that the most important source of predictability comes from the cyclonic activity in the Atlantic Ocean and the low from Brazilian forest. The observed and forecast rainfall series were significantly correlated (0.59) and nearly the 35% of summer rainfall variance was predicted by the proposed method. A semi-quantitative validation was done by using terciles of the observed and forecast distributions. The skill of the forecast got a good result although there is still an important portion of the variance that cannot be explained by this model and therefore, the method might be improved in future research. Fil:González, M.H. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. 2009 https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_01876236_v22_n3_p265_Gonzalez http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_01876236_v22_n3_p265_Gonzalez
institution Universidad de Buenos Aires
institution_str I-28
repository_str R-134
collection Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA)
topic Pattern circulation
Rainfall
Sea surface temperature
Standarized precipitation index
Statistical prediction model
correlation
model validation
precipitation intensity
prediction
quantitative analysis
rainfall
raingauge
regression analysis
sea surface temperature
seasonal variation
summer
trend analysis
weather forecasting
Argentina
Atlantic Ocean
Buenos Aires [Argentina]
Rio de la Plata
South America
spellingShingle Pattern circulation
Rainfall
Sea surface temperature
Standarized precipitation index
Statistical prediction model
correlation
model validation
precipitation intensity
prediction
quantitative analysis
rainfall
raingauge
regression analysis
sea surface temperature
seasonal variation
summer
trend analysis
weather forecasting
Argentina
Atlantic Ocean
Buenos Aires [Argentina]
Rio de la Plata
South America
Gonzalez, Marcela Hebe
An approach to seasonal forecasting of summer rainfall in Buenos Aires, Argentina
topic_facet Pattern circulation
Rainfall
Sea surface temperature
Standarized precipitation index
Statistical prediction model
correlation
model validation
precipitation intensity
prediction
quantitative analysis
rainfall
raingauge
regression analysis
sea surface temperature
seasonal variation
summer
trend analysis
weather forecasting
Argentina
Atlantic Ocean
Buenos Aires [Argentina]
Rio de la Plata
South America
description This paper analyzes some summer rainfall characteristics in Buenos Aires and developes a seasonal prediction scheme. Buenos Aires is located along the coast of the Río de la Plata in Argentina. The outstanding rainfall feature is the presence of an annual cycle with maximum precipitation in summer. The analysis of the annual rainfall evolution since 1908 showed a positive trend of 2.1 mm/year and 1.8 mm/year for the period between December and February, representative of the summer season. The Observatorio Central Buenos Aires/station, located in the downtown, registered a mean annual accumulated rainfall of 1070 mm with a standard deviation of 239 mm, during the period 1908-2007. The mean accumulated precipitation during January, February and March was 305 mm with a standard deviation of 125 mm. The wet and dry periods were identified and the dry periods tended to be longer during 1908-1957 meanwhile wet periods resulted longer and more intense in 1958-2007. Accumulated rainfall between December and February was related to some mean meteorological variables between September and November, with the aim to develop a statistical prediction scheme. Careful selection of predictors, based largely on physical reasoning, was done and they were used in a regression model, following a forward stepwise methodology. The analysis shows that the most important source of predictability comes from the cyclonic activity in the Atlantic Ocean and the low from Brazilian forest. The observed and forecast rainfall series were significantly correlated (0.59) and nearly the 35% of summer rainfall variance was predicted by the proposed method. A semi-quantitative validation was done by using terciles of the observed and forecast distributions. The skill of the forecast got a good result although there is still an important portion of the variance that cannot be explained by this model and therefore, the method might be improved in future research.
author Gonzalez, Marcela Hebe
author_facet Gonzalez, Marcela Hebe
author_sort Gonzalez, Marcela Hebe
title An approach to seasonal forecasting of summer rainfall in Buenos Aires, Argentina
title_short An approach to seasonal forecasting of summer rainfall in Buenos Aires, Argentina
title_full An approach to seasonal forecasting of summer rainfall in Buenos Aires, Argentina
title_fullStr An approach to seasonal forecasting of summer rainfall in Buenos Aires, Argentina
title_full_unstemmed An approach to seasonal forecasting of summer rainfall in Buenos Aires, Argentina
title_sort approach to seasonal forecasting of summer rainfall in buenos aires, argentina
publishDate 2009
url https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_01876236_v22_n3_p265_Gonzalez
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_01876236_v22_n3_p265_Gonzalez
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