Monthly Precipitation over Northern Middle Atlas, Eastern Morocco: Homogenization and Trends
The lack of a complete and reliable data series often represents the main difficulty in carrying out climate studies. Diverse causes, such as human and instrumental errors, false and incomplete records, and the use of obsolete equipment in some meteorological stations, give rise to inhomogeneities t...
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MDPI AG
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Applied Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/23/12496 |
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| author | Rachid Addou Mohamed Hanchane Khalid Obda Nir Y. Krakauer Bouchta El Khazzan Ridouane Kessabi Hassan Achiban |
| author_facet | Rachid Addou Mohamed Hanchane Khalid Obda Nir Y. Krakauer Bouchta El Khazzan Ridouane Kessabi Hassan Achiban |
| author_sort | Rachid Addou |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The lack of a complete and reliable data series often represents the main difficulty in carrying out climate studies. Diverse causes, such as human and instrumental errors, false and incomplete records, and the use of obsolete equipment in some meteorological stations, give rise to inhomogeneities that do not represent climatic reality. This work in the northern part of the Moroccan Middle Atlas used 22 meteorological stations with sometimes-incomplete monthly precipitation data from 1970 to 2019. The homogenization and estimation of the missing data were carried out with the R software package Climatol version 3.1.1. The trends in the series were quantified by the Mann–Kendall nonparametric test. The results obtained show a low root mean square error (RMSE), between the original and homogenized data, of between 0.5 and 38.7 mm per month, with an average of 8.5 mm. Rainfall trends for the months of December through June are generally downward. These negative trends are significantly stronger in the southern and eastern parts of the study area, especially during the month of April (the wettest month). On the other hand, July shows positive trends, with 71% of stations having an increasing precipitation tendency, although only five (or 1/3) of these are statistically significant. From August to November, generally positive trends were also observed. For these months, the percentage of series with a positive and significant trend varied between 55 and 77%. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T17:52:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3562053153be4bfa96ce7285e6e8d304 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3417 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T17:52:06Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Applied Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-3562053153be4bfa96ce7285e6e8d3042023-11-24T10:37:27ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172022-12-0112231249610.3390/app122312496Monthly Precipitation over Northern Middle Atlas, Eastern Morocco: Homogenization and TrendsRachid Addou0Mohamed Hanchane1Khalid Obda2Nir Y. Krakauer3Bouchta El Khazzan4Ridouane Kessabi5Hassan Achiban6Department of Geography, FLSH Sais, University Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdallah, Fez 30050, MoroccoDepartment of Geography, Laboratoire Territoire Patrimoine et Histoire, FLSH Dhar El-Mehraz, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fez 30050, MoroccoDepartment of Geography, FLSH Sais, University Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdallah, Fez 30050, MoroccoDepartment of Civil Engineering, The City College of New York, New York, NY 10031, USADepartment of Geography, Laboratoire Territoire Patrimoine et Histoire, FLSH Dhar El-Mehraz, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fez 30050, MoroccoDepartment of Geography, Laboratoire Territoire Patrimoine et Histoire, FLSH Dhar El-Mehraz, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fez 30050, MoroccoDepartment of Geography, FLSH Sais, University Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdallah, Fez 30050, MoroccoThe lack of a complete and reliable data series often represents the main difficulty in carrying out climate studies. Diverse causes, such as human and instrumental errors, false and incomplete records, and the use of obsolete equipment in some meteorological stations, give rise to inhomogeneities that do not represent climatic reality. This work in the northern part of the Moroccan Middle Atlas used 22 meteorological stations with sometimes-incomplete monthly precipitation data from 1970 to 2019. The homogenization and estimation of the missing data were carried out with the R software package Climatol version 3.1.1. The trends in the series were quantified by the Mann–Kendall nonparametric test. The results obtained show a low root mean square error (RMSE), between the original and homogenized data, of between 0.5 and 38.7 mm per month, with an average of 8.5 mm. Rainfall trends for the months of December through June are generally downward. These negative trends are significantly stronger in the southern and eastern parts of the study area, especially during the month of April (the wettest month). On the other hand, July shows positive trends, with 71% of stations having an increasing precipitation tendency, although only five (or 1/3) of these are statistically significant. From August to November, generally positive trends were also observed. For these months, the percentage of series with a positive and significant trend varied between 55 and 77%.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/23/12496monthly precipitationhomogenizationClimatoltrend analysisnorthern Middle AtlasMorocco |
| spellingShingle | Rachid Addou Mohamed Hanchane Khalid Obda Nir Y. Krakauer Bouchta El Khazzan Ridouane Kessabi Hassan Achiban Monthly Precipitation over Northern Middle Atlas, Eastern Morocco: Homogenization and Trends Applied Sciences monthly precipitation homogenization Climatol trend analysis northern Middle Atlas Morocco |
| title | Monthly Precipitation over Northern Middle Atlas, Eastern Morocco: Homogenization and Trends |
| title_full | Monthly Precipitation over Northern Middle Atlas, Eastern Morocco: Homogenization and Trends |
| title_fullStr | Monthly Precipitation over Northern Middle Atlas, Eastern Morocco: Homogenization and Trends |
| title_full_unstemmed | Monthly Precipitation over Northern Middle Atlas, Eastern Morocco: Homogenization and Trends |
| title_short | Monthly Precipitation over Northern Middle Atlas, Eastern Morocco: Homogenization and Trends |
| title_sort | monthly precipitation over northern middle atlas eastern morocco homogenization and trends |
| topic | monthly precipitation homogenization Climatol trend analysis northern Middle Atlas Morocco |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/23/12496 |
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