Analysis on Long Precipitation Series in Piedmont (North-West Italy)

Fiorella Acquaotta,Simona Fratianni

doi:10.4236/ajcc.2013.21002

Abstract

This study analyses thirteen daily precipitation series of Piedmont, region of North-West Italy. The meteorological series have been chosen because they were meteorological observatories operating continuously from the beginning of 1900 until 2011. As the first step an historical research over each station has been carried out. In this way, the potential breaks, in the series, either due to changes of locations or instruments, have been determined and the missing values have been recovered. On the precipitation daily series a quality control have been effectuated and by metadata identification it was possible to assess the homogeneity of the meteorological series. In this way we have obtained the complete and correct series on which trends have been computed. In order to better understand the consequences of climate variations on our environment and society, we have calculated the climate indices proposed by “CCL/CLIVAR Working Group on Climate Change Detection” (dry and wet days, rainy days, intensity of precipitation…) over the time. The values of precipitation have also allowed beginning the climatic analysis with the aim at defining the principle local peculiarity in Piedmont.

Highlights

The changes occurring in the climate extremes, such as an increase in hot days, decrease in cold days, longer heat waves or more frequent intense rains or severe drought, have a major impact on ecosystems and on the society at large [1,2,3,4]
Climate change detection and projections based on the analysis of extreme event indices are of great importance to support studies on impacts and vulnerability and to prepare strategies to adapt to climate change
The results indicate that the climate in the city of Rio de Janeiro is becoming more humid in the forested region, with heavy rainfall events producing a greater amount of rainfall

Summary

Introduction

The changes occurring in the climate extremes, such as an increase in hot days, decrease in cold days, longer heat waves or more frequent intense rains or severe drought, have a major impact on ecosystems and on the society at large [1,2,3,4]. Climate change detection and projections based on the analysis of extreme event indices are of great importance to support studies on impacts and vulnerability and to prepare strategies to adapt to climate change. Among others, such studies have been undertaken at global and regional level by [4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12]. A detailed investigation of the be havior of extreme climate event indicators for the city of Rio de Janeiro, in the state of the same name, will be tremendously useful

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Conclusion