Investigation of the trends in rainfall data in Slovakia, Portugal and Libya

Abstract

One of the goals of the hydrological risk assessment is to reduce the impacts of droughts and floods. The objective of study is to investigate rainfall trends in climatic stations in Slovakia, Portugal and Libya. Annual and seasonal precipitation trends were detected by the Mann-Kendall non-parametric statistical test. The annual rainfall series at the Portuguese and Libyan climatic stations show mostly downwards trends (decreasing rainfall) while the series at the Slovak climatic stations show upwards trends (increasing rainfall). The results are in accordance with the IPCC forecasts. They also indicate that the variability of extreme rainfall and the climate uncertainty are greater in recent times.