Temporal and spatial rainfall variability in the mountainous region of the reventazón river basin, costa rica

✍ Scribed by Chacón, R. E. ;Fernandez, Walter

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 1985
• Weight: 755 KB
• Volume: 5
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 2314-6214
• DOI: 10.1002/joc.3370050205

✦ Synopsis

Two seasonal periods with different rainfall characteristics were identified in the mountainous region of the Reventaz6n River basin, Costa Rica, a region of about 1770 km2 with altitudes in the 5OC-3000 km range. These seasonal periods are December-April, in which orographic rain predominates, and May-November, in which convective showers predominate.

The temporal variability of rainfall in the study area was examined using the coefficient of variation. It was found that the largest values of the coefficient of variation occur at high altitudes and the lowest values at middle altitudes.

They are large in the December-April period and small in the May-November period.

Correlation analysis was used to determine the spatial variability of rainfall in the study area. The results obtained show that the monthly and seasonal values of the correlation coefficient are generally larger than 0.7 over the study area in the December-April period. In the May-November period, the values of the correlation coefficient are in general quite small, less than 0.3 for distances less than 50 km in the case of seasonal totals. In this latter period, a few values of the correlation coefficient larger than 0.7 are observed, but they correspond to areas with correlation radii less than 3 km.