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chapter - Atmospheric and Oceanic Science

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-15<br />

-20<br />

-25<br />

-30<br />

-35<br />

-40<br />

-15<br />

-20<br />

-25<br />

-30<br />

-35<br />

Regional precipitation trends<br />

A B<br />

-40<br />

C D<br />

-70 -65 -60 -55 -50 -45 -40 -70 -65 -60 -55 -50 -45 -40<br />

Fig. 5.5. Precipitation trends for 1961-2000 in mm/yr. (a) annual precipitation, (b) La Niña contribution,<br />

(c) El Niño contribution, <strong>and</strong> (d) Neutral years contribution.<br />

The positive trend is in the b<strong>and</strong> between 20° <strong>and</strong> 40°S East of the Andes<br />

Mountains. El Niño contribution to the trend is noticeable for the region that goes<br />

from Paraguay, through Northeaster Argentina up to Rio Gr<strong>and</strong>e in Brazil. To the<br />

South, El Niño contribution to the trend is close to zero, while the Neutral years<br />

appear to be the ones that carry most of the trend signal. Neutral years also contribute<br />

to the maximum in the region of the triple boundary of Paraguay, Brazil <strong>and</strong><br />

Argentina. It can also be noticed that during La Niña periods the trend is close to<br />

zero everywhere. In other words, largest contributions to precipitation trends are<br />

found during El Niño or Neutral years, but not during La Niña years.<br />

These results are relevant when preparing future scenarios of climate change,<br />

because they provide important information about the mechanisms behind the<br />

trends observed in the last few decades.<br />

67

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