Precipitation trends in Turkey (1969–2018): A spatiotemporal analysis

Abstract

Global climate change can have significant impacts on different geographical regions. It is very important to analyze the changes in temporal and spatial precipitation patterns. In this study, the monthly and yearly precipitation values in Turkey were examined by combining the nonparametric Mann-Kendall rank correlation test and Getis-Ord G spatial clustering test. The study was carried out by integrating and compiling the data in different formats related to the years 1969–2018 for 233 stations in Turkey. It was observed that the annual total precipitation amounts had decreased significantly in many stations during the studied period. Though most of the stations show a decreasing trend in annual precipitation, only the inner and southern part of the country has significant decreasing trends. The trend analysis on monthly precipitation data reveals that there are significant (confidence level ≥ 95%) decreasing trends in most of the regions of Turkey.