On climate variability in Northeast of Brazil

The time-series (annual period and dry- and wet-season) of eight climatic variables were analysed to ascertain the existence of climate variability in Northeast of Brazil. Results indicated generally increasing trends in most of these variables (statistically significant at p<0.01 or <0.05) by Mann-Kendall test. However, relative humidity and rainfall presented decreasing behavior. The study showed that most of the stations studied are going through a process of environmental dryness. The results also suggest that the historical trends may be related to climate variability in Northeast of Brazil, which affects both semi-arid and coastal part of the region. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.