Abstract
Drought is a statistical phenomenon, its impacts vary according to the region under study and the relationship between the meteorological drought (no rainfall) and other factors related to agricultural drought (soil and crops), hydrological drought (water supply) and socioeconomic drought (social and economic impacts). Meteorological drought is the basis for the other types of drought. In this context, the present study aimed to analyse the intensity of rainfall temporal anomaly in the representative catchment of Santa Maria/Cambiocó located in the Northwest Region of Rio de Janeiro State, Southeast Region of Brazil. The rain anomaly index was calculated based in two gauge stations ten-year rainfall time series. The dry season, winter, covers the months of june, july and august and the rainy season, summer, covers the months of november, december and january. No changes were verified in the rainfall series trends that could influence the observed meteorological drought. Consequently, no tendency in the observed time period, that could be justified by climate anomalies or climate change impacts, were identified.
Keywords:
rainfall; drought; climatic changes; Northwest Region of Rio de Janeiro State
