Trend analysis of precipitation records using an innovative trend methodology in a semi-arid Mediterranean environment: Cheliff Watershed Case (Northern Algeria)

• Published in: Theoretical and applied climatology Vol. 144; no. 3-4; pp. 1001 - 1015
• Main Authors: Harkat, Samra, Kisi, Ozgur
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Vienna Springer Vienna 01-05-2021; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Analysis; Aquatic Pollution; Aquatic resources; Aridity; Atmospheric precipitations; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Atmospheric Sciences; Climate science; Climatology; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Exploitation; Homogeneity; Management; Methods; Original Paper; Precipitation; Rain; Rain and rainfall; Rainfall; Rainfall trends; Resource exploitation; Resource management; Semiarid environments; Trend analysis; Trends; Waste Water Technology; Water; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Water resources; Watersheds; Algeria
• ISSN: 0177-798X; 1434-4483
• DOI: 10.1007/s00704-021-03520-4

The description and analysis of rainfall trends is necessary for effective planning, management, and exploitation of water resources. This study investigates the possible trend of precipitation of 28 stations in a semi-arid Mediterranean environment (Northern Algeria) for the period from 1959 to 2019 (60 years), using a recently proposed innovative partial trend methodology. The main advantage of this new method is that it provides qualitative interpretations of trends in the high, medium, and low precipitation ranges in terms of the structure of the time series’ internal trend. An accurate database has been established thanks to the homogeneity of the data quality leading to rather satisfactory results with a precision of the spatial and temporal tendencies, thus establishing maps of regional trends: “high precipitation,” “average precipitation,” and “low precipitation” for the whole study area.