Distribución y variabilidad de la precipitación en la Región Pampeana, Argentina

Abstract

Pampas region is the main agricultural area of Argentina. Its economy mainly depends on rainfall regimes. The aim of this study was to sub-regionalize the Pampas, considering the spatial and temporal distribution of rainfalls. Cluster analysis was applied to study precipitation data from 33 meteorological stations from National Weather Service (SMN, Argentina) during the period 1960-2010. As a result, 6 sub-regions were obtained. Extreme precipitation events were studied with the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT). Rainfalls respond to annual and seasonal timescales. Four of the sub-regions presented rainfalls homogeneity, permitting to redefine the limits of the Pampas region proposed by Labraga et al. (2011). Thus, a new pluviometric regionalization was achieved considering the typical precipitation patterns of Pampas region.