Abstract
Abstract. In this paper, the spatial and temporal distribution of the daily precipitation concentration index (CI) in Algeria (south Mediterranean Sea) has been assessed. CI is an index related to the rainfall intensity and erosive capacity; therefore, this index is of great interest for studies on torrential rainfall and floods. Forty-two daily rainfall series based on high-quality and fairly regular rainfall records for the period from 1970 to 2008 were used. The daily precipitation CI results allowed the identification of three climate zones: the northern country, characterized by coastal regions with CI values between 0.59 and 0.63; the highlands, with values between 0.57 and 0.62, except for the region of Biskra (CI = 0.70); and the southern region of the country, with high rainfall concentrations with values between 0.62 and 0.69.
Highlights
The rainfall analysis with daily resolution in Algeria is a subject of great interest
This type of analysis is justified by the existence of severe environmental hazards in the Mediterranean, such as floods and soil instability resulting from the high percentages of annual total precipitation falling in a limited number of very rainy days
The results of the concentration index (CI) values in Algeria and in other countries, such as mainland Spain (Martin-Vide, 2004), Iran (Alijani et al, 2008) and China (Zhang et al, 2009), show that the CI values obtained in all Algerian territory are similar to those found in peninsular Spain and Iran and they are lower than those found in China
Summary
The rainfall analysis with daily resolution in Algeria is a subject of great interest. This type of analysis is justified by the existence of severe environmental hazards in the Mediterranean, such as floods and soil instability resulting from the high percentages of annual total precipitation falling in a limited number of very rainy days. High CI values have been obtained in southeastern peninsular Spain and the geographical proximity to our study area invites us to focus on the spatiotemporal daily rainfall distribution of 42 meteorological stations evenly distributed over the entire Algerian territory.
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