Spatial and temporal variability of rain-spells characteristics in Serbia and Montenegro

Abstract

Rain spells are a key parameter in examining rainfall regime. A rain spell is defined as a series of consecutive days above a certain daily rainfall threshold (DRT). For each rain spell, its duration (RSD), yield (RSY) and average intensity (RSI), as well as their total number (NRS) in each year, were calculated.The present study analyses daily rainfall series from 22 stations representing the different regions of Serbia and Montenegro in the period 1949-2007. This study highlights the temporal variability (both inter-and intra-annual) and the complexity of the rainfall regime in both countries.In each station, all years were divided into three categories: wet, normal and dry according to their standard scores. Then, on the basis of these scores, the entire year was categorized accordingly. The various rain-spell parameters were calculated and are presented for each of these three categories. The relationships between NRS (exponential), RSY (linear) and RSI (power) with the RSD were calculated for each station and their coefficients were plotted.The entire study area was divided into three sub-regions in terms of similar annual behaviour, using the factor analysis. The regions are as follows: northern and central Serbia, eastern and southern Serbia and Montenegro.All years were grouped into several clusters, each representing a different spatial distribution. Their characteristics and probabilities are presented.Overall, Montenegro is much rainier than Serbia, having longer and more intense rain spells. Serbia, on the other hand, has more short rain spells than Montenegro and demonstrates no real summer dryness such as in Montenegro. Intra-annual variability is relatively high in both countries, slightly higher in Montenegro.

Spatial and temporal variability of dryness characteristics in Turkey

“…This model was tested and used in a series of analyses performed on the rainfall regime in the Mediterranean countries (e.g. Reiser and Kutiel, , , , , , , ; Anagnostopoulou et al ., ; Kutiel and Trigo, ; Kutiel et al ., ; Hernández et al ., ; Wittenberg and Kutiel, ).…”

“…In this study, we used this criterion which we entitled: Mediterranean Climate Index (MCI). This index was already used in several previous studies (Kutiel and Trigo, 2014;Kutiel et al, 2015;Hernández et al, 2016).…”

Annual rainfall variability and economical dependency of smallholder agriculture in the semi-arid northeastern region of Brazil

“…The regionally integrated rainfall departure is calculated as the means for all stations. The annual rainfall departure is defined into three categories: z < -0.5 refer to dry years; z > 0.5 refer to wet years; -0.5 < z < 0.5 define normal years; where the z-score indicates how many standard deviations an element is from the mean; analog to Kutiel et al (2014). For the categorization of the entire domain, the integrated standardized rainfall departure is calculated as mean across all stations.…”

Local Resilience to Natural Hazards in Serbia. Case Study: The West Morava River Valley

“…Respondents agreed with the view that geography should be represented in the educational system of Serbia with more hours per week, for example talking about natural hazards, prevention, and protection against natural hazards. Geographers of Serbia dealing with science, such as Dragićević et al [52][53][54], Burić et al [55,56], Kutiel et al [57], Malinovic-Milicevic et al [58], Lukić et al [26], Milanović et al [59], and Vyklyuk et al [60], still make a scientific contribution to the study of natural disasters. Geographers, unlike other professions, look at natural hazards from the physical geographic point of view, but also in terms of monitoring the social geographic consequences.…”