Recent changes in temperature and precipitation extremes in an ecological reserve in Federal District, Brazil

Carlos Antônio Costa Dos Santos

doi:10.1590/s0102-77862014000100002

Carlos Antônio Costa Dos Santos

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/s0102-77862014000100002

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Abstract

The main objective of this study is to provide information on trends, in local scale, using records of daily temperature and precipitation of a single weather station in an ecological reserve of the savanna biome in Federal District/Brazil, analyzing different extreme climatic indices. The extreme temperature indices have identified that the days are getting warmer and the nights are cooler at local scale. Thus, the local diurnal temperature range is increasing. The results also evidence that the number of days with heavy precipitation is decreasing, but the precipitation indices presented high variability and suggest the importance of further studies related to changes in land use and urbanization. The locally obtained temperature results point to changes in South America.

Highlights

Tropical savannas cover about one-eighth of the global land surface and are characterized by high plant-species diversity
They found that the coldest nights (TN) of the year are getting warmer in opposition to the results shown for the RECOR site
It is necessary to evidence that there is no studies about the temperature extreme indices for this region of Brazil which could be used for comparison and, that in this study has Annual count when TX(daily maximum)>25oC

Summary

Introduction

Tropical savannas cover about one-eighth of the global land surface and are characterized by high plant-species diversity. Because plants are the primary site for the exchange of water, energy, and momentum between the land and atmosphere, vegetation has an important role in the climate system (Hoffmann and Jackson, 2000). Easterling et al (2000) underlines that they have a profound impact on human society and the natural environment and IPCC (2001) states those extremes are a key aspect of climate change. Knowledge of climate extremes is important for everyday life and plays a critical role in the development and in the management of emergency situations, like heat waves (Satyamurty et al, 2007; Toreti and Desiato, 2008)

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Conclusion