Research on Tropical Rainfall Patterns and Associated Mesoscale Systems.
Abstract
The study deals with some of the problems generated due to the inherent persistence existing in daily rainfall patterns. The Markov Chain approach is discussed and examples, taken from many tropical areas, show that a one-day persistence chain is sufficiently accurate. However, due to the large standard error of estimate associated with probabilities calculated from only 20 to 40 years of data, it is shown that seasonal patterns can be obtained with very good accuracy using monthly data; the smoothing introduced thereby is apparently acceptable for practical applications. This is a study of the temporal and areal variation of the precipitation which occurs within a few kilometers of Caracas, Venezuela. The location is adjacent to the Caribbean Sea, but most of this area is separated from the sea by a range of mountains. Caracas is located on the floor of an interior valley. Within this small area the variation of rainfall during the year is large with dry periods in which rain occurs and rainy periods which have extended dry spells. These variations were studied by several means. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1972
- Accession Number
- AD0737342
Entities
People
- John F. Griffiths
- Ricardo Ponte
- Walter K. Henry
Organizations
- Texas A&M University