Summary
Annual and interannual variations of rainfall over Brazil are discussed. First, rainy and dry seasons for several stations of Brazil are determined using the data of 21 years (1958–1978). The progressive movement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone seems to be associated with the progresive variation of rainfall seasons in the equatorial eastern Brazil. The annual migration of deep tropical convection from Central and Southern Portion of the Amazon basin in austral summer to the northwestern sector of South America in austral winter seems to be responsible for the annual cycle of rainfall in the Amazon basin. The conncection between the interannual variation of rainfall over Brazil and the Southern Oscillation is also discussed. The correlation coefficient between the Southern Oscillation index and the rainfall is generally small over most of Brazil except over Rio Grande do Sul. The correlation between the spring rainfall of Rio Grande do Sul and the Southern Oscillation index of the same or of the previous season is significantly high and shows prospects for seasonal rainfall prediction.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aceituno, P., 1988: On the functioning of the Southern Oscillation in the South American Sector Part I: Surface Climate.Mon. Wea. Rev. 116, 505–524.
Aragão, J. O. R., 1986: A general circulation model investigation of the atmospheric response to El Niño, Ph.D. thesis, University of Miami, Miami. 144 pp.
Bjerknes, J., 1966: A possible response of the atmospheric Hadley circulation to Equatorial anommalies of ocean temperature.Tellus 18, 820–829.
Fennesy, M. J., Marx, L., Shukla, J, 1985: General circulation model sensitivity to 1982–83 equatorial Pacific sea surface temperature anomalies.Mon. Wea. Rev. 113 858–864.
Flohn, H., 1971: Tropical circulation patterns.Bonner Meteorol. Abhandl. 15, 1–55.
Hastenrath, S., Heller, L., 1977: Dynamics of climatic hazards in northeast Brazil.Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc. 103, 77–92.
Hastenrath, S., Lamb, P., 1977:Climatic Atlas of the Tropical Atlantic and Eastern Pacific Oceans. University of Wisconsin Press, 113 pp.
Hastenrath, S., WU, M. C., Chu, P. S., 1984: Towards the monitoring and prediction of northeast Brazil droughts.Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc. 110, 411–425.
Janowiak, J. E., Krueger, A. F., Arkin, P. A., Gruber, A., 1985:Atlas of Outgoing Long Wave Radiation Derived from NOAA Satellite Data. NOAA Atlas No. 6 U.S. Department of Commerce, 44 pp.
Julian, P. R., Chervin, R. M., 1978: A study of the Southern Oscillation and Walker circulation phenomenon.Mon. Wea. Rev. 106, 1433–1451.
Kayano, M. T., Rao, V. B., Moura, A. D., 1988: Tropical circulation and associated rainfall anomalies during two contrasting years.J. Climatol. 8, 477–488.
Keshavamurty, R. N., 1982: Response of the atmosphere to sea surface temperature, anomalies over the equatorial Pacific and teleconnections of the Southern Oscillation.J. Atmos. Sci. 39, 1241–1259.
Kousky, V. E., 1979: Frontal influences on northeast Brazil.Mon. Wea. Rev. 107, 1142–1153.
Kousky, V. E., Ferreira, N. J., 1981: Interdiurnal surface pressure variations in Brazil: Their spatial distributions, origins and effects.Mon. Wea. Rev. 109, 1999–2008.
Kousky, V. E., Kagano, M. T., Cavalcanti, I. F. A., 1984: A review of the Southern Oscillation: Oceanic-atmos-pheric circulation changes and related rainfall anomalies.Tellus 36 A, 490–504.
Marques, V. S., Rao, V. B., Molion, L. C. B., 1983: Interannual and seasonal variations in the structure and energetics of the atmosphere over northeast Brazil.Tellus,35 A, 136–148.
Mossman, R. C., 1923: On Indian monsoon rainfall in relation to South American weather, 1875–1914.Mem. Ind. Meteor. Dept. 23, 157–242.
Moura, A. D., Shukla, J., 1981: On the dynamics of droughts in northeast Brazil: Observations, theory and numerical experiments with a general circulation model.J. Atmos. Sci.,38, 2653–2675.
Nicholis, N., McBride, J. L., Ormerod, R. J., 1982: On predicting the onset of the Australian wet season of Darwin.Mon. Wea. Rev.,110, 14–17.
Paegle, J., 1987: Interactions between convection and largescale motions over Amazonia. In:The Geophysiology of Amazonia: Vegetation and Climate Interactions. (R. E. Dickinson, ed.) New York: Wiley Series: Climate and the Biosphere for the United Nations University, 526 pp.
Parker, D. E., 1983: Documentation of a Southern Oscillation index.Meteor. Mag. 112, 184–188.
Rao, V. B., Satyamurty, P., de Brito, J. I. B., 1986: On the 1983 drought in northeast Brazil.J. Climatol. 6, 43–51.
Rasmusson, E. M., Carpenter, T. H., 1982: Variations in Tropical sea surface temperature and surface wind fields associated with the Southern Oscillation/El Niño.Mon. Wea. Rev. 110, 354–384.
Ratisbona, C. R., 1976: The climate of Brazil. Climates of Central and South America.World Survey of Climatology, Vol. 12. (W. Schwerdtfeger and H. E. Landsberg, eds) Amsterdam: Elsevier, 219–293.
Rogers, J. C., 1988: Precipitation variability over the Caribbean and tropical Americas associated with the Southern Oscillation,J. Climate (in press)
Ropelewski, C. F., Halpert, M. S., 1987: Global and regional scale precipitation patterns associated with the El Niño/Southern Oscillation.Mon. Wea. Rev.,115, 1606–1626.
Schwerdtfeger, W., 1976: The atmospheric circulation over central and South America.World Survey of Climatology, Vol. 12. (W. Schwerdtfeger and H. E. Landsberg, eds.) Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1–12.
Stoeckenius, T., 1981: Interannual variations of tropical precipitation patterns.Mon. Wea. Rev. 109, 1233–1247.
Streten, N. A., 1983: Southern Hemisphere Circulation Contrasts in the winters of 1972 and 1973. Preprints. First International Conference on Southern Hemisphere Meteorology, 31 July–6 August, 1983. São José dos Campos, Brazil, 108–111.
Tokioka, T., Kitoh, A., Katayama, A., 1986: Atmospheric response to the sea surface temperature anomalies in the mature phase of El Niño: Numerical experiment under the perpetual January conditions.J. Meteor. Soc. Japan 64 347–362.
Trenberth, K. E., 1984: Signal versus noise in the Southern Oscillation.Mon. Wea. Rev. 112, 326–332.
Trewartha, G. T., 1961:The Earth's Problem Climates. The University of Wisconin Press, 334 pp.
Walker, G. T., 1924: Correlation in seasonal variation of weather, (IX.)Mem. Ind. Meteor. Dept. 24, 275–332.
Walker, G. T., 1928a: World Weather III.Mem. Roy. Meteor. Soc. 2, 97–106.
Walker, G. T., 1928b: Ceará (Brazil) famines and the general air movement.Beitr. Phys. Freien Atmos. 14, 88–93.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
With 5 Figures
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rao, V.B., Hada, K. Characteristics of rainfall over Brazil: Annual variations and connections with the Southern Oscillation. Theor Appl Climatol 42, 81–91 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00868215
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00868215