Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Daily, Monthly, and Seasonal Rainfall Characteristics across Northern Cyprus
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 26, Issue 12
Abstract
In this study, rainfall time series data of 36 years collected at 33 meteorological stations were analyzed to introduce spatial and temporal characteristics of daily, monthly, and seasonal rainfall patterns for Northern Cyprus. For this purpose, concentration index (CI), precipitation concentration index (PCI), and seasonality index (SI) were employed. Additionally, the temporal trend of these indexes was evaluated using the Mann-Kendall (MK) trend test and innovative-Şen test (IŞT). Analyzing the temporal changes of rainfall patterns in the Eastern Mediterranean region is valuable to the whole area, where many countries are suffering from both water scarcity and increasing flash flood frequency. Therefore, the findings of this study were compared with the results of regional studies. The results of CI analysis show that Northern Cyprus has a moderately concentrated distribution of rainfall. On the other hand, the North Coast and Kyrenia Mountains regions are characterized by high annual rainfall as well as high risk of flood events. PCI and SI results show a greatly seasonal rainfall distribution pattern across the study area. Additionally, significant upward trends are observed in the majority of the stations in daily rainfall concentration.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code used during the study were provided by a third party (precipitation data). Direct request for these materials may be made to the provider, as indicated in the Acknowledgments.
Acknowledgments
The authors of this study thank to the Meteorological Authority of Northern Cyprus for providing the necessary data.
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Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 26 • Issue 12 • December 2021
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 17, 2020
Accepted: Jul 26, 2021
Published online: Oct 12, 2021
Published in print: Dec 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Mar 12, 2022
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