Mapping Rainfall Variability in the São Francisco River Basin: Insights for Water Resource Management

Abstract

The São Francisco River Basin (SFRB) is extremely important for both the local rural and urban population, running through several states and municipalities in Brazil. Thus, the study of the spatial distribution of rainfall in the SFRB, supported by the application of geostatistics, offers valuable insights for water management and planning. In this study, data from 341 rainfall stations were used, corresponding to the period between 1989 and 2018, and monthly accumulated rainfall analyzed. About the trends, positive estimates for latitude, except for April, highlight that the accumulated precipitation decreases from south to north each month. In December, 85.10% of the spatial variability of rainfall was explained by the trend of rainfall concerning geographical coordinates. Concerning spatial dependence, the analyzed data predominantly exhibited the exponential variogram model. The conducted analyses offered a holistic view of rainfall in the region, facilitating the understanding of spatial patterns and shedding light on challenges in the face of climate change. Our research limited on the spatial modeling of rainfall in the SFRB, and future work should include modeling socio-economic and environmental impacts in the region concerning the spatial irregularity of rainfall.