Detection of changes in the summer precipitation time series of the region Emilia-Romagna, Italy

• DOI: 10.1007/s007040070008
• Publication Date: 2003-02-12T13:05:56Z
• Authors: R. Tomozeiu; A. Busuioc; V. Marletto; F. Zinoni; C. Cacciamani
• Keywords: Empirical orthogonal functions; Trend analysis

The main characteristics of the spatial and temporal variability of summer precipitation observed in 40 rainfall stations of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy, are analysed for the period 1922 to 1995. Non-parametric tests and Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis were used as tools in order to achieve the paper’s objective. The Pettitt and Mann-Kendall tests detect shift points and trends in the precipitation time series, respectively, while the EOF analysis reveals the main characteristics of spatial variability. The Standard Normal Homogeneity Test (SNHT) was used to detect the inhomogeneity of the data set.