THORNTHWAITE'S (1948) CLIMATE CLASSIFICATION IN THE CENTRAL-WEST REGION: AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO BRAZIL'S LARGEST GRAIN-PRODUCING REGION

Abstract

A simple way to capture climate variation over a location is through the use of climate classification systems. Thus, the objective of this work is to classify the climate of the Central-West region of Brazil using Thornthwaite's (1948) climate classification system. Climatic data from the NASA/POWER station were collected daily in the period 1990 – 2020, where potential evapotranspiration and the climatological water balance were calculated. The climatic classification was generated by the Thornthwaite system (1948). Twenty-four climate classes were obtained for the entire study region, with the most predominant classes being ArA'a' and B1rA'a' with 15.0% and 12.5% respectively.