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Spatial analysis of daily precipitation concentration in Puerto Rico

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Abstract

The present study analyzes spatial patterns of precipitation Concentration Index (CI) in Puerto Rico considering the daily precipitation data of 20 precipitation-gauging stations during 1971–2010. The South and East interior parts of Puerto Rico are characterized by higher CI and the West and North-West parts show lower CI. The annual CI and the rainy season CI show a gradient from South-East to North-West and the dry season CI shows a gradient from South to North. Another difference between the rainy season CI and dry season CI is that the former shows the lowest values of CI while the latter shows the highest values of CI. The different types of seasonal precipitation seem to play a major role on the spatial CI distribution. However, the local relief plays a major role in the spatial patterns due to the effect of the air circulation by the mountains. These findings can contribute to basin-scale water resource management (flooding, soil erosion, etc.) and conservation of the ecological environment.

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Acknowledgments

Special thanks to the Institutional Fund for Research 2017–2019 of Dean of Graduate Studies and Research of the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras Campus and the National Weather Service of San Juan Offices (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United State of America). This work was conducted as part of a collaborative effort between Puerto Rico (Laboratory of Climatology Faculty of Social Science University of Puerto Rico) and Spain (Water Research Institute University of Barcelona) and Project CGL2017-83866-C3-2-R, 2018-2020 (Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Spain).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, San Juan, 00931-1907, Puerto Rico

    Amílcar Vélez & Orlando Santaella

  2. Department of Geography, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Javier Martin-Vide

  3. Department of Geography, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Dominic Royé

  4. Department of Geography, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Dominic Royé

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  1. Amílcar Vélez
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  2. Javier Martin-Vide
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  3. Dominic Royé
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  4. Orlando Santaella
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Correspondence to Amílcar Vélez.

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Vélez, A., Martin-Vide, J., Royé, D. et al. Spatial analysis of daily precipitation concentration in Puerto Rico. Theor Appl Climatol 136, 1347–1355 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-018-2550-1

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